Insider Buying: Equity Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQBK) Director Acquires $56,875.59 in Stock

Equity Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQBK) Director Leon Borck acquired 1,467 shares of Equity Bancshares stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 12th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $38.77 per share, for a total transaction of $56,875.59. Following the purchase, the director now owns 11,941 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $462,952.57. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website.

Equity Bancshares Stock Performance

EQBK stock opened at $41.73 on Monday. Equity Bancshares, Inc. has a 1-year low of $22.78 and a 1-year high of $42.64. The company has a current ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $39.41 and a 200-day moving average price of $35.58. The firm has a market cap of $636.51 million, a PE ratio of 69.55 and a beta of 0.90.

Equity Bancshares (NASDAQ:EQBK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 16th. The bank reported $0.99 earnings per share (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 analyst estimates of $54.56 million. Equity Bancshares had a return on equity of 12.43% and a net margin of 3.75%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Equity Bancshares, Inc. will post 4.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Equity Bancshares Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 30th. This is a positive change from Equity Bancshares’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.12. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.44%. Equity Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio is currently 100.00%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Equity Bancshares

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Teacher Retirement System of Texas bought a new position in shares of Equity Bancshares during the 4th quarter worth about $271,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in Equity Bancshares by 4.2% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 754,999 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $25,595,000 after buying an additional 30,253 shares in the last quarter. Petiole USA ltd acquired a new position in Equity Bancshares during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,945,000. Quadrature Capital Ltd bought a new position in Equity Bancshares in the fourth quarter worth approximately $322,000. Finally, Denali Advisors LLC grew its stake in Equity Bancshares by 112.5% in the first quarter. Denali Advisors LLC now owns 13,600 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $467,000 after acquiring an additional 7,200 shares during the period. 71.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have commented on the company. Stephens lifted their target price on Equity Bancshares from $39.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on 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 increased their target price on shares of Equity Bancshares from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 13th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Equity Bancshares presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $39.00.

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.