Equity Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQBK) Receives Average Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from Analysts

Key Points

• Equity Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQBK) has received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from analysts, with three hold ratings and three buy ratings among the six brokerages covering the stock.
• Recently, Equity Bancshares announced a quarterly dividend increase from $0.15 to $0.18 per share, representing a 1.8% dividend yield.
• The company's market capitalization is approximately $770.07 million, with shares trading at $40.07 and a target price range among analysts spanning from $45.00 to $54.00.

Equity Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQBK - Get Free Report) has earned a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the six brokerages that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and three have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $50.40.

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on EQBK. Piper Sandler began coverage on Equity Bancshares in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. They set an "overweight" rating and a $54.00 target price on the stock. DA Davidson reissued a "neutral" rating and set a $45.00 target price on shares of Equity Bancshares in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on Equity Bancshares from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, September 4th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. MetLife Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Equity Bancshares by 4.5% in the 1st quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 9,492 shares of the bank's stock valued at $374,000 after purchasing an additional 413 shares during the last quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. grew its stake in shares of Equity Bancshares by 282.0% in the 2nd quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 680 shares of the bank's stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 502 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its stake in shares of Equity Bancshares by 33.3% in the 2nd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 2,189 shares of the bank's stock valued at $89,000 after purchasing an additional 547 shares during the last quarter. Police & Firemen s Retirement System of New Jersey boosted its stake in shares of Equity Bancshares by 22.0% in the second quarter. Police & Firemen s Retirement System of New Jersey now owns 3,825 shares of the bank's stock valued at $156,000 after buying an additional 689 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Equity Bancshares by 9.4% in the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 8,927 shares of the bank's stock valued at $364,000 after buying an additional 769 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.80% of the company's stock.

Equity Bancshares Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ EQBK opened at $40.07 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 0.86. Equity Bancshares has a fifty-two week low of $34.11 and a fifty-two week high of $50.85. The firm has a market capitalization of $770.07 million, a PE ratio of 10.07 and a beta of 0.82. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $40.81 and its 200-day simple moving average is $39.71.

Equity Bancshares Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 30th were given a dividend of $0.18 per share. This is a boost from Equity Bancshares's previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 30th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.8%. Equity Bancshares's dividend payout ratio is 60.00%.

About Equity Bancshares

Equity Bancshares, Inc operates as the bank holding company for Equity Bank that provides a range of banking, mortgage banking, and financial services to individual and corporate customers. The company accepts various demand, savings, money market, and time deposits. Its loan products include commercial and industrial, commercial real estate, commercial lines of credit, working capital, term, equipment and aircraft financing, acquisition, expansion and development, borrowing base, real estate construction, homebuilder, agricultural, government guaranteed, and other loan products.

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