EQB Inc. (TSE:EQB) Receives Consensus Recommendation of "Hold" from Brokerages

Key Points

• EQB Inc. has a consensus “Hold” rating from 11 brokerages, with six holds and five buys, and an average 12-month price target of C$122.50.
• The stock recently traded at C$140.13, above both its 50-day and 200-day moving averages, while the company reported C$2.03 EPS and C$302.36 million in quarterly revenue.
• EQB also raised its quarterly dividend to C$0.61 from C$0.59, giving it an annualized yield of about 1.7%; recent insider activity showed both buying and selling in the stock.

Shares of EQB Inc. (TSE:EQB - Get Free Report) have earned an average recommendation of "Hold" from the eleven brokerages that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and five have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is C$122.50.

EQB has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Raymond James Financial lowered their price target on shares of EQB from C$127.00 to C$123.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 29th. TD dropped their price target on EQB from C$132.00 to C$123.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 28th. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on shares of EQB from C$122.00 to C$125.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Monday, June 1st. Desjardins upped their target price on EQB from C$130.00 to C$132.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on shares of EQB from C$110.00 to C$112.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 20th.

EQB Stock Performance

Shares of EQB opened at C$140.13 on Thursday. EQB has a 1 year low of C$83.93 and a 1 year high of C$150.32. The company's fifty day moving average is C$126.28 and its two-hundred day moving average is C$117.73. The stock has a market capitalization of C$4.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.53, a P/E/G ratio of 0.34 and a beta of 0.93.

EQB (TSE:EQB - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 27th. The company reported C$2.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The firm had revenue of C$302.36 million during the quarter. EQB had a net margin of 6.61% and a return on equity of 6.16%. Sell-side analysts predict that EQB will post 12.5988235 EPS for the current year.

EQB Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 30th were issued a $0.61 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 15th. This is a positive change from EQB's previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. This represents a $2.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.7%. EQB's payout ratio is 44.01%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Loblaw Companies Limited purchased 8,000 shares of EQB stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 20th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of C$141.57 per share, with a total value of C$1,132,560.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 1,250,100 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately C$176,976,657. The trade was a 0.64% increase in their position. Also, Director Daniel Broten sold 1,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of C$141.74, for a total transaction of C$212,610.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 5,033 shares in the company, valued at approximately C$713,377.42. The trade was a 22.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. In the last 90 days, insiders have bought 22,100 shares of company stock worth $3,167,188 and have sold 7,484 shares worth $1,069,719. 29.02% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

About EQB

EQB Inc formerly Equitable Group Inc trades on the Toronto Stock Exchange TSX: EQB and EQB.PR.C and serves over 360000 Canadians through its wholly owned subsidiary Equitable Bank Canadas Challenger Bank. Equitable Bank has grown to become the countrys eighth largest independent Schedule I bank with a clear mandate to drive real change in Canadian banking to enrich peoples lives. At Equitable Bank we are as invested in our employees as we are in our business. Thats why we are consistently recognized as one of Canadas Top Employers a rating that comes from our 1300+ employees.

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