Wellington Management Group LLP Raises Position in Equity Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQBK)

Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in shares of Equity Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQBK - Free Report) by 740.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 577,230 shares of the bank's stock after purchasing an additional 508,509 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP owned 3.78% of Equity Bancshares worth $24,486,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its holdings in Equity Bancshares by 155.0% in the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 39,943 shares of the bank's stock valued at $1,694,000 after purchasing an additional 24,279 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in Equity Bancshares by 6.7% during the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 384,574 shares of the bank's stock worth $16,314,000 after purchasing an additional 24,117 shares during the period. EntryPoint Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Equity Bancshares during the fourth quarter worth about $252,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Equity Bancshares by 4.6% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 840,934 shares of the bank's stock valued at $35,672,000 after buying an additional 37,187 shares during the period. Finally, KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS acquired a new position in shares of Equity Bancshares in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $119,000. 71.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on EQBK shares. Stephens lowered their price objective on shares of Equity Bancshares from $52.00 to $49.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Hovde Group upped their price objective on Equity Bancshares from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their target price on Equity Bancshares from $46.00 to $44.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 7th. DA Davidson decreased their price target on shares of Equity Bancshares from $50.00 to $46.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott initiated coverage on shares of Equity Bancshares in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. They set a "neutral" rating on the stock. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Equity Bancshares has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $47.20.

Equity Bancshares Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ:EQBK traded up $0.33 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $35.36. 83,265 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 55,597. The stock has a market cap of $619.15 million, a P/E ratio of 8.88 and a beta of 0.73. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $40.50 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $42.70. Equity Bancshares, Inc. has a 12-month low of $30.98 and a 12-month high of $50.85. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78.

Equity Bancshares Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.70%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. Equity Bancshares's dividend payout ratio is presently 15.08%.

Equity Bancshares Company Profile

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.