EQB Inc. (TSE:EQB) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

EQB Inc. (TSE:EQB) has been given an average rating of “Moderate Buy” by the ten research firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is C$102.56.

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on EQB shares. Scotiabank raised their price target on shares of EQB from C$99.00 to C$111.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. Veritas Investment Research reaffirmed a “reduce” rating on shares of EQB in a research note on Friday, March 1st. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of EQB from C$101.00 to C$107.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, March 1st. TD Securities raised their price target on shares of EQB from C$94.00 to C$105.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 9th. Finally, National Bank Financial cut shares of EQB from an “outperform market weight” rating to a “sector perform market weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 28th.

EQB Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of TSE EQB opened at C$84.73 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of C$3.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.10, a PEG ratio of 0.34 and a beta of 1.67. EQB has a 52 week low of C$57.92 and a 52 week high of C$97.64. The company’s 50-day moving average price is C$86.68 and its 200 day moving average price is C$82.70.

EQB (TSE:EQB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 27th. The company reported C$2.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. EQB had a net margin of 39.67% and a return on equity of 14.70%. As a group, research analysts expect that EQB will post 11.4900925 earnings per share for the current year.

EQB Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a $0.42 dividend. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.98%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This is a positive change from EQB’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. EQB’s payout ratio is 18.05%.

About EQB

EQB Inc, through its subsidiary, Equitable Bank, provides personal and commercial banking services to retail and commercial customers in Canada. The company accepts term deposits and guaranteed investment certificates, high interest savings accounts, institutional deposit notes and covered bonds, as well as specialized financing solutions.