Piper Sandler Boosts Equity Bancshares (NASDAQ:EQBK) Price Target to $38.00

Equity Bancshares (NASDAQ:EQBK) had its price target lifted by Piper Sandler from $37.00 to $38.00 in a report published on Tuesday morning, Benzinga reports. Piper Sandler currently has an overweight rating on the bank’s stock.

Equity Bancshares Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ EQBK opened at $33.89 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $523.26 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 56.48 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a quick ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74. Equity Bancshares has a twelve month low of $20.50 and a twelve month high of $34.99. The company’s fifty day moving average is $32.57 and its 200-day moving average is $30.68.

Equity Bancshares (NASDAQ:EQBK) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 24th. The bank reported $0.77 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.65 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of ($3.95) million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $47.67 million. Equity Bancshares had a net margin of 3.88% and a return on equity of 12.27%. Equities research analysts predict that Equity Bancshares will post 3.75 EPS for the current year.

Equity Bancshares Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Investors of record on Friday, March 29th were paid a $0.12 dividend. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.42%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 27th. Equity Bancshares’s payout ratio is presently 80.00%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Equity Bancshares news, CEO Brad S. Elliott sold 6,290 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.57, for a total transaction of $198,575.30. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 152,088 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,801,418.16. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other Equity Bancshares news, CEO Brad S. Elliott sold 6,290 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.57, for a total transaction of $198,575.30. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 152,088 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,801,418.16. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, General Counsel Brett A. Reber sold 959 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.14, for a total transaction of $30,822.26. Following the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 29,147 shares in the company, valued at $936,784.58. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 8,478 shares of company stock valued at $268,894. Company insiders own 8.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Equity Bancshares

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Federated Hermes Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Equity Bancshares by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 18,425 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $625,000 after purchasing an additional 302 shares during the period. Denali Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Equity Bancshares by 25.5% in the 4th quarter. Denali Advisors LLC now owns 6,400 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $217,000 after purchasing an additional 1,300 shares during the period. Rocky Mountain Advisers LLC bought a new stake in shares of Equity Bancshares in the 4th quarter valued at about $69,000. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its stake in Equity Bancshares by 31.7% in the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 8,978 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $304,000 after buying an additional 2,162 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tower Research Capital LLC TRC grew its stake in Equity Bancshares by 530.7% in the 4th quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 2,756 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $93,000 after buying an additional 2,319 shares during the last quarter. 71.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.