Renaissance Technologies LLC Has $2.40 Million Stake in Equity Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQBK)

Renaissance Technologies LLC lowered its stake in shares of Equity Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQBK) by 7.6% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 68,120 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 5,580 shares during the quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC owned about 0.45% of Equity Bancshares worth $2,398,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in EQBK. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Equity Bancshares by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 754,999 shares of the bank’s stock worth $25,595,000 after purchasing an additional 30,253 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Equity Bancshares by 1.5% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 754,069 shares of the bank’s stock worth $25,917,000 after buying an additional 10,868 shares in the last quarter. Foundry Partners LLC increased its holdings in Equity Bancshares by 890.4% in the 2nd quarter. Foundry Partners LLC now owns 104,985 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $3,695,000 after buying an additional 94,385 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in shares of Equity Bancshares by 5.1% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 79,831 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,810,000 after buying an additional 3,838 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Equity Bancshares by 8.0% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 75,240 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,586,000 after acquiring an additional 5,600 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 71.80% of the company’s stock.

Equity Bancshares Price Performance

Shares of EQBK opened at $39.38 on Wednesday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $39.56 and a 200-day moving average of $35.97. Equity Bancshares, Inc. has a 1 year low of $22.78 and a 1 year high of $42.64. The company has a market capitalization of $600.66 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 65.63 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 0.84 and a quick ratio of 0.84.

Equity Bancshares (NASDAQ:EQBK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 16th. The bank reported $0.99 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by $0.07. Equity Bancshares had a net margin of 3.75% and a return on equity of 12.43%. The company had revenue of $55.43 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $54.56 million. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Equity Bancshares, Inc. will post 4.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Equity Bancshares Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 30th will be paid a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.52%. This is an increase from Equity Bancshares’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.12. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 30th. Equity Bancshares’s payout ratio is currently 100.00%.

Insider Activity at Equity Bancshares

In other Equity Bancshares news, CEO Brad S. Elliott sold 24,801 shares of Equity Bancshares stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.64, for a total value of $1,007,912.64. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 151,616 shares in the company, valued at $6,161,674.24. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, Director Gregory L. Gaeddert sold 6,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.99, for a total value of $245,940.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 17,167 shares in the company, valued at approximately $703,675.33. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Brad S. Elliott sold 24,801 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.64, for a total value of $1,007,912.64. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 151,616 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,161,674.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 33,101 shares of company stock worth $1,351,925 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 8.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have commented on EQBK. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on shares of Equity Bancshares from $38.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on Equity Bancshares from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, June 13th. Finally, Stephens raised their price objective on Equity Bancshares from $39.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $39.00.

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.