EQB (TSE:EQB) Hits New 52-Week High – Still a Buy?

EQB Inc. (TSE:EQB)’s stock price reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as C$126.37 and last traded at C$125.91, with a volume of 98987 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at C$122.60.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on EQB. TD Securities lowered their price target on shares of EQB from C$138.00 to C$132.00 in a report on Thursday, February 26th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on shares of EQB from C$110.00 to C$112.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 20th. TD decreased their target price on shares of EQB from C$132.00 to C$123.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 28th. Raymond James Financial lowered their target price on shares of EQB from C$127.00 to C$123.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Finally, National Bank Financial set a C$120.00 price target on EQB and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, May 15th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of C$122.50.

EQB Stock Performance

The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of C$118.63 and a 200 day simple moving average of C$111.66. The company has a market cap of C$4.62 billion, a PE ratio of 24.79, a PEG ratio of 0.34 and a beta of 1.01.

EQB (TSE:EQB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 27th. The company reported C$2.03 earnings per share for the quarter. EQB had a net margin of 6.61% and a return on equity of 6.16%. The business had revenue of C$302.36 million for the quarter. As a group, equities analysts predict that EQB Inc. will post 12.5988235 EPS for the current fiscal year.

EQB Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 30th will be given a dividend of $0.61 per share. This represents a $2.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. This is a positive change from EQB’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 15th. EQB’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 44.01%.

About EQB

EQB Inc formerly Equitable Group Inc trades on the Toronto Stock Exchange TSX: EQB and EQB.PR.C and serves over 360000 Canadians through its wholly owned subsidiary Equitable Bank Canadas Challenger Bank. Equitable Bank has grown to become the countrys eighth largest independent Schedule I bank with a clear mandate to drive real change in Canadian banking to enrich peoples lives. At Equitable Bank we are as invested in our employees as we are in our business. Thats why we are consistently recognized as one of Canadas Top Employers a rating that comes from our 1300+ employees.