Equity Bancshares (NASDAQ:EQBK) Sets New 1-Year High After Insider Buying Activity

Equity Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQBK - Get Free Report) hit a new 52-week high during trading on Friday following insider buying activity. The stock traded as high as $34.99 and last traded at $34.99, with a volume of 58425 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $34.33.Specifically, CEO Brad S. Elliott sold 6,290 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.57, for a total value of $198,575.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 152,088 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,801,418.16. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, CEO Brad S. Elliott sold 6,290 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.57, for a total value of $198,575.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 152,088 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,801,418.16. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Junetta M. Everett bought 2,903 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 13th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $34.50 per share, with a total value of $100,153.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 9,813 shares in the company, valued at approximately $338,548.50. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Corporate insiders own 8.00% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of Equity Bancshares from $37.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $32.67.

Equity Bancshares Stock Performance

The stock's 50-day moving average is $33.15 and its 200-day moving average is $31.73. The firm has a market capitalization of $540.25 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 58.28 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a current ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69.

Equity Bancshares (NASDAQ:EQBK - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 16th. The bank reported $1.03 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.85 by $0.18. Equity Bancshares had a net margin of 3.88% and a return on equity of 12.08%. The firm had revenue of $55.91 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $52.00 million. On average, analysts predict that Equity Bancshares, Inc. will post 3.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Equity Bancshares Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 29th were issued a dividend of $0.12 per share. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.37%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 27th. Equity Bancshares's payout ratio is 80.00%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Equity Bancshares

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Equity Bancshares by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 764,382 shares of the bank's stock valued at $18,399,000 after purchasing an additional 9,639 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Equity Bancshares by 4.2% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 754,999 shares of the bank's stock valued at $25,595,000 after purchasing an additional 30,253 shares during the last quarter. Mendon Capital Advisors Corp bought a new stake in shares of Equity Bancshares in the 4th quarter valued at $14,694,000. LSV Asset Management bought a new stake in shares of Equity Bancshares in the 4th quarter valued at $3,061,000. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC boosted its stake in shares of Equity Bancshares by 8.0% in the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 75,240 shares of the bank's stock valued at $2,586,000 after purchasing an additional 5,600 shares during the last quarter. 71.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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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