Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA Reduces Stock Holdings in Equity Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQBK)

Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lowered its holdings in Equity Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQBK) by 2.4% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 40,601 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 984 shares during the quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA’s holdings in Equity Bancshares were worth $1,660,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Mendon Capital Advisors Corp grew its position in Equity Bancshares by 2,539.9% during the 2nd quarter. Mendon Capital Advisors Corp now owns 350,000 shares of the bank’s stock worth $12,320,000 after purchasing an additional 336,742 shares during the period. Foundry Partners LLC grew its holdings in Equity Bancshares by 890.4% during the second quarter. Foundry Partners LLC now owns 104,985 shares of the bank’s stock worth $3,695,000 after acquiring an additional 94,385 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Equity Bancshares by 1.5% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 754,069 shares of the bank’s stock worth $25,917,000 after acquiring an additional 10,868 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Equity Bancshares during the second quarter valued at approximately $322,000. Finally, Triune Financial Partners LLC acquired a new position in Equity Bancshares in the third quarter valued at approximately $268,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.80% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Brad S. Elliott sold 2,300 shares of Equity Bancshares stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 $6,480,384.56. The trade was a 1.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Leon Borck acquired 1,467 shares of Equity Bancshares stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 12th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $38.77 per share, with a total value of $56,875.59. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 11,941 shares in the company, valued at $462,952.57. The trade was a 14.01 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 8.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on EQBK. Stephens raised shares of Equity Bancshares from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $46.00 target price for the company in a report on Monday, October 14th. DA Davidson lifted their price objective on shares of Equity Bancshares from $42.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th.

Equity Bancshares Stock Down 0.4 %

Equity Bancshares stock opened at $48.26 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.86. The stock has a market capitalization of $737.90 million, a PE ratio of 44.06 and a beta of 0.89. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $43.37 and a 200-day simple moving average of $39.03. Equity Bancshares, Inc. has a 12 month low of $24.92 and a 12 month high of $50.85.

Equity Bancshares (NASDAQ:EQBK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 15th. The bank reported $1.31 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by $0.32. The company had revenue of $55.35 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $55.77 million. Equity Bancshares had a net margin of 6.36% and a return on equity of 13.53%. On average, analysts anticipate that Equity Bancshares, Inc. will post 4.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Equity Bancshares Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 30th were paid a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 30th. This is a positive change from Equity Bancshares’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.12. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.24%. Equity Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 54.55%.

Equity Bancshares 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.