CSM Advisors LLC Buys New Shares in Equity Bancshares, Inc. $EQBK

CSM Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Equity Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQBK) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 115,560 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $4,713,000. CSM Advisors LLC owned approximately 0.66% of Equity Bancshares as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Equity Bancshares by 1.3% during the 1st quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,547,284 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $60,963,000 after acquiring an additional 19,139 shares during the period. FJ Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Equity Bancshares by 7.0% in the first quarter. FJ Capital Management LLC now owns 1,206,571 shares of the bank’s stock worth $47,539,000 after purchasing an additional 79,195 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Equity Bancshares by 5.7% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 888,650 shares of the bank’s stock worth $35,013,000 after purchasing an additional 47,716 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in shares of Equity Bancshares by 17.2% in the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 676,587 shares of the bank’s stock worth $26,658,000 after purchasing an additional 99,357 shares in the last quarter. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its position in shares of Equity Bancshares by 0.7% during the 1st quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 382,468 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $15,069,000 after purchasing an additional 2,736 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 71.80% of the company’s stock.

Equity Bancshares Price Performance

Shares of Equity Bancshares stock opened at $41.16 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $790.97 million, a PE ratio of 10.34 and a beta of 0.89. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $41.11 and a 200 day moving average of $40.23. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78. Equity Bancshares, Inc. has a 12 month low of $34.11 and a 12 month high of $50.85.

Equity Bancshares Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 30th were paid a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 30th. This is a positive change from Equity Bancshares’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.7%. Equity Bancshares’s payout ratio is currently 60.00%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on EQBK shares. Piper Sandler began coverage on Equity Bancshares in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $54.00 price target for the company. DA Davidson reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $45.00 target price on shares of Equity Bancshares in a research report on Thursday, October 16th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on Equity Bancshares from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, September 4th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Equity Bancshares has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $50.40.

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.