Loblaw Companies Limited Buys 6,100 Shares of EQB (TSE:EQB) Stock

Key Points

• Loblaw Companies Limited bought 6,100 EQB shares on July 15 at C$143.88 each, and followed up with additional purchases of 8,000 shares on both July 17 and July 20.
• After the latest trade, Loblaw owned 1,226,100 EQB shares worth about C$176.4 million, representing a 0.50% increase in its stake.
• EQB stock fell 1.3% to C$140.76, while analysts currently have a Hold consensus rating with an average target price of C$122.50.

EQB Inc. (TSE:EQB - Get Free Report) insider Loblaw Companies Limited bought 6,100 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 15th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of C$143.88 per share, with a total value of C$877,668.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 1,226,100 shares of the company's stock, valued at C$176,411,268. The trade was a 0.50% increase in their ownership of the stock.

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

• On Friday, July 17th, Loblaw Companies Limited purchased 8,000 shares of EQB stock. The shares were acquired at an average cost of C$144.62 per share, for a total transaction of C$1,156,960.00.
• On Monday, July 20th, Loblaw Companies Limited acquired 8,000 shares of EQB stock. The shares were acquired at an average price of C$141.57 per share, with a total value of C$1,132,560.00.

EQB Stock Down 1.3%

Shares of EQB stock traded down C$1.89 during trading on Monday, reaching C$140.76. The company's stock had a trading volume of 150,669 shares, compared to its average volume of 122,838. EQB Inc. has a 1-year low of C$83.93 and a 1-year high of C$150.32. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of C$125.25 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of C$117.22. The company has a market cap of C$4.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.65, a P/E/G ratio of 0.34 and a beta of 0.93.

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

EQB Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 30th were issued a dividend of $0.61 per share. This represents a $2.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.7%. This is an increase from EQB's previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 15th. EQB's dividend payout ratio is currently 44.01%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently commented on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on shares of EQB from C$110.00 to C$112.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 20th. Desjardins lifted their price objective on shares of EQB from C$130.00 to C$132.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. Raymond James Financial dropped their price objective on shares of EQB from C$127.00 to C$123.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 29th. National Bank Financial set a C$120.00 target price on EQB and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Friday, May 15th. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their price target on EQB from C$122.00 to C$125.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Monday, June 1st. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of C$122.50.

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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