EQB (TSE:EQB) Insider Loblaw Companies Limited Acquires 8,000 Shares

Key Points

• Loblaw Companies Limited purchased 8,000 EQB shares at an average price of C$137.62, investing approximately C$1.10 million and increasing its ownership by 0.60% to 1.35 million shares.
• Loblaw has made several additional EQB purchases since mid-July, signaling continued insider accumulation at prices ranging from C$141.57 to C$144.62 per share.
• EQB shares rose 0.9% to C$139.33, while the company recently increased its quarterly dividend to C$0.61 per share. Analysts’ consensus rating remains Hold, with an average price target of C$124.80.

EQB Inc. (TSE:EQB - Get Free Report) insider Loblaw Companies Limited acquired 8,000 shares of EQB stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 6th. The shares were purchased at an average price of C$137.62 per share, for a total transaction of C$1,100,960.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 1,346,100 shares in the company, valued at C$185,250,282. The trade was a 0.60% increase in their ownership of the stock.

Loblaw Companies Limited also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Tuesday, August 4th, Loblaw Companies Limited purchased 8,000 shares of EQB stock. The shares were purchased at an average cost of C$142.40 per share, for a total transaction of C$1,139,200.00.
• On Wednesday, July 15th, Loblaw Companies Limited purchased 6,100 shares of EQB stock. The shares were purchased at an average price of C$143.88 per share, for a total transaction of C$877,668.00.
• On Friday, July 17th, Loblaw Companies Limited acquired 8,000 shares of EQB stock. The stock was purchased at an average cost of C$144.62 per share, with a total value of C$1,156,960.00.
• On Monday, July 20th, Loblaw Companies Limited acquired 8,000 shares of EQB stock. The stock was acquired at an average price of C$141.57 per share, with a total value of C$1,132,560.00.

EQB Trading Up 0.9%

TSE:EQB traded up C$1.30 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting C$139.33. 20,476 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 119,431. EQB Inc. has a fifty-two week low of C$83.93 and a fifty-two week high of C$150.32. The firm has a market capitalization of C$4.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.37, a PEG ratio of 0.34 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of C$131.55 and a 200-day simple moving average of C$120.55.

EQB (TSE:EQB - Get Free Report) last announced 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%. As a group, analysts expect that EQB Inc. will post 12.5988235 earnings per share for the current year.

EQB Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 30th were given a $0.61 dividend. This is a boost from EQB's previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 15th. This represents a $2.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.8%. EQB's dividend payout ratio is presently 44.01%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on EQB shares. National Bank Financial set a C$120.00 price objective on EQB and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Friday, May 15th. 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 for the company in a report on Friday, May 29th. Scotiabank boosted their price target on shares of EQB from C$122.00 to C$125.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Monday, June 1st. TD reduced their price objective on shares of EQB from C$132.00 to C$123.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 28th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of EQB from C$110.00 to C$112.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 20th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of C$124.80.

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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