DA Davidson Forecasts Reduced Earnings for Equity Bancshares

Equity Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQBK) – Research analysts at DA Davidson cut their FY2025 earnings per share estimates for Equity Bancshares in a research report issued to clients and investors on Monday, December 9th. DA Davidson analyst J. Rulis now anticipates that the bank will post earnings per share of $3.80 for the year, down from their previous forecast of $4.15. DA Davidson currently has a “Neutral” rating and a $45.00 target price on the stock. The consensus estimate for Equity Bancshares’ current full-year earnings is $4.27 per share.

A number of other research firms have also recently commented on EQBK. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on Equity Bancshares from $43.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Stephens raised Equity Bancshares from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $46.00 price target on the stock in a report on Monday, October 14th.

Equity Bancshares Stock Down 1.9 %

Shares of EQBK stock opened at $46.75 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.86. Equity Bancshares has a one year low of $30.44 and a one year high of $50.85. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $45.07 and its 200-day moving average price is $40.10. The company has a market capitalization of $714.81 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.50 and a beta of 0.90.

Equity Bancshares (NASDAQ:EQBK) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The bank reported $1.31 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by $0.32. The company had revenue of $55.35 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $55.77 million. Equity Bancshares had a net margin of 6.36% and a return on equity of 13.53%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Brad S. Elliott sold 2,300 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.64, for a total transaction of $98,072.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 151,979 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,480,384.56. This represents a 1.49 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 8.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Equity Bancshares

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Foundry Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Equity Bancshares by 13.8% in the 3rd quarter. Foundry Partners LLC now owns 119,525 shares of the bank’s stock worth $4,886,000 after buying an additional 14,540 shares in the last quarter. Mendon Capital Advisors Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Equity Bancshares by 2,539.9% in the 2nd quarter. Mendon Capital Advisors Corp now owns 350,000 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $12,320,000 after acquiring an additional 336,742 shares during the last quarter. ELCO Management Co. LLC increased its stake in Equity Bancshares by 3.1% during the second quarter. ELCO Management Co. LLC now owns 13,673 shares of the bank’s stock worth $481,000 after acquiring an additional 415 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its position in Equity Bancshares by 74.1% during the third quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 5,052 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $207,000 after purchasing an additional 2,150 shares during the period. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Equity Bancshares in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $322,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.80% of the company’s stock.

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.