Equity Bancshares (NASDAQ:EQBK) Shares Gap Up – Time to Buy?

Equity Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQBK)’s share price gapped up before the market opened on Friday . The stock had previously closed at $39.78, but opened at $40.71. Equity Bancshares shares last traded at $40.69, with a volume of 1,052 shares.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

EQBK has been the subject of several analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of Equity Bancshares from $38.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Stephens lifted their price objective on shares of Equity Bancshares from $39.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Equity Bancshares has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $39.00.

Equity Bancshares Price Performance

The business has a fifty day moving average of $39.41 and a two-hundred day moving average of $36.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 0.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $631.93 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 69.05 and a beta of 0.89.

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

Equity Bancshares Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 30th will be issued a $0.15 dividend. This is a boost from Equity Bancshares’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.12. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 30th. Equity Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio is currently 100.00%.

Insider Transactions at Equity Bancshares

In other news, Director Leon Borck bought 1,467 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 12th. The shares were bought at an average price of $38.77 per share, for a total transaction of $56,875.59. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 11,941 shares in the company, valued at approximately $462,952.57. This trade represents a 0.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Equity Bancshares news, Director Gregory L. Gaeddert sold 6,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 23rd. The shares were 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 owns 17,167 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $703,675.33. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Leon Borck bought 1,467 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 12th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $38.77 per share, for a total transaction of $56,875.59. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 11,941 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $462,952.57. This trade represents a 0.00 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 33,101 shares of company stock worth $1,351,925 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 8.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Equity Bancshares

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Federated Hermes Inc. raised its holdings in Equity Bancshares by 1.7% in the 2nd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 19,240 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $677,000 after acquiring an additional 327 shares in the last quarter. ELCO Management Co. LLC raised its stake in Equity Bancshares by 3.1% in the second quarter. ELCO Management Co. LLC now owns 13,673 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $481,000 after purchasing an additional 415 shares in the last quarter. EntryPoint Capital LLC bought a new stake in Equity Bancshares during the first quarter worth about $42,000. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its stake in Equity Bancshares by 74.1% during the third quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 5,052 shares of the bank’s stock worth $207,000 after buying an additional 2,150 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Creative Planning increased its holdings in Equity Bancshares by 4.4% in the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 80,133 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $3,276,000 after buying an additional 3,399 shares during the period. 71.80% of the stock is currently 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.