Insider Selling: Equity Bancshares (NYSE:EQBK) COO Sells $270,718.15 in Stock

Equity Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:EQBK) COO Julie Huber sold 5,303 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.05, for a total transaction of $270,718.15. Following the sale, the chief operating officer owned 62,009 shares in the company, valued at $3,165,559.45. The trade was a 7.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink.

Equity Bancshares Stock Down 0.2%

EQBK opened at $50.61 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $1.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.31 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a current ratio of 0.93. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $48.23 and its 200 day moving average is $46.45. Equity Bancshares, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $36.04 and a fifty-two week high of $51.73.

Equity Bancshares (NYSE:EQBK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 14th. The company reported $1.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.24 by $0.17. The business had revenue of $81.93 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $85.10 million. Equity Bancshares had a return on equity of 13.67% and a net margin of 8.26%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Equity Bancshares, Inc. will post 5.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Equity Bancshares Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 30th were given a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 30th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.4%. Equity Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 43.11%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently commented on EQBK shares. Wall Street Zen raised Equity Bancshares from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, July 18th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Equity Bancshares in a report on Monday, June 22nd. DA Davidson lifted their price objective on shares of Equity Bancshares from $47.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, June 22nd. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Equity Bancshares from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Benchmark started coverage on shares of Equity Bancshares in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $57.00 target price on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $54.17.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Equity Bancshares

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in EQBK. Patriot Financial Partners GP II L.P. bought a new position in Equity Bancshares during the third quarter valued at approximately $49,541,000. FJ Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Equity Bancshares by 8.6% in the 3rd quarter. FJ Capital Management LLC now owns 1,222,791 shares of the company’s stock worth $49,768,000 after acquiring an additional 96,695 shares during the last quarter. Kennedy Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Equity Bancshares by 37.2% in the 4th quarter. Kennedy Capital Management LLC now owns 279,264 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,469,000 after acquiring an additional 75,785 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP purchased a new stake in shares of Equity Bancshares during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,933,000. Finally, Osaic Holdings Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Equity Bancshares by 16,290.5% during the 4th quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 46,713 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,086,000 after acquiring an additional 46,428 shares in the last quarter. 71.80% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Equity Bancshares Company Profile

Equity Bancshares, Inc is the bank holding company for Equity Bank, a regional financial services provider headquartered in Wichita, Kansas. As a publicly traded company on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker EQBK, Equity Bancshares operates a network of branches and lending offices across Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Illinois and Colorado. Its geographic footprint spans both urban and rural markets, reflecting a focus on supporting small businesses, agricultural enterprises and individual consumers throughout the Midwest.

The company’s core business activities encompass a full spectrum of commercial and consumer banking services.