Brad S. Elliott Sells 2,300 Shares of Equity Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQBK) Stock

Equity Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQBK) CEO Brad S. Elliott sold 2,300 shares of Equity Bancshares stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.64, for a total value of $98,072.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 151,979 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,480,384.56. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

Equity Bancshares Price Performance

EQBK opened at $41.73 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 0.84 and a quick ratio of 0.84. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $39.41 and its 200 day simple moving average is $35.55. The firm has a market cap of $636.51 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 69.55 and a beta of 0.90. Equity Bancshares, Inc. has a 1 year low of $22.78 and a 1 year high of $42.64.

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

Equity Bancshares Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 30th will be given a $0.15 dividend. This is a boost from Equity Bancshares’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.12. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 30th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.44%. Equity Bancshares’s payout ratio is presently 100.00%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Equity Bancshares

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. EntryPoint Capital LLC purchased a new position in Equity Bancshares during the 1st quarter valued at about $42,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its holdings in Equity Bancshares by 97.0% in the 1st quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 7,190 shares of the bank’s stock worth $247,000 after buying an additional 3,541 shares during the period. Teacher Retirement System of Texas bought a new stake in shares of Equity Bancshares in the 4th quarter worth approximately $271,000. Quadrature Capital Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Equity Bancshares during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $322,000. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Equity Bancshares during the second quarter valued at approximately $322,000. 71.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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