DA Davidson Forecasts Weaker Earnings for Equity Bancshares

Equity Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQBK) – Stock analysts at DA Davidson decreased their Q4 2024 earnings estimates for shares of Equity Bancshares in a research report issued to clients and investors on Monday, December 9th. DA Davidson analyst J. Rulis now anticipates that the bank will earn $0.90 per share for the quarter, down from their previous estimate of $0.93. DA Davidson currently has a “Neutral” rating and a $45.00 price target on the stock. The consensus estimate for Equity Bancshares’ current full-year earnings is $4.27 per share.

Several other research firms have also recently commented on EQBK. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of Equity Bancshares from $43.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Stephens upgraded shares of Equity Bancshares from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $46.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Monday, October 14th.

Equity Bancshares Price Performance

NASDAQ:EQBK opened at $47.72 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $729.64 million, a P/E ratio of 43.38 and a beta of 0.90. Equity Bancshares has a one year low of $30.44 and a one year high of $50.85. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $44.73 and a 200 day moving average price of $40.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.86.

Equity Bancshares (NASDAQ:EQBK) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The bank reported $1.31 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.99 by $0.32. The firm 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%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Equity Bancshares

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in EQBK. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its holdings in Equity Bancshares by 7.8% during the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 3,213 shares of the bank’s stock worth $131,000 after acquiring an additional 232 shares during the last quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Equity Bancshares in the 3rd quarter valued at about $203,000. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its stake in shares of Equity Bancshares by 74.1% in the 3rd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 5,052 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $207,000 after purchasing an additional 2,150 shares during the last quarter. Triune Financial Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Equity Bancshares in the 3rd quarter valued at about $268,000. Finally, PDT Partners LLC bought a new position in Equity Bancshares during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $282,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.80% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Brad S. Elliott sold 2,300 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.64, for a total transaction of $98,072.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 151,979 shares in the company, valued at $6,480,384.56. This trade represents a 1.49 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Leon Borck bought 1,467 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 12th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $38.77 per share, with a total value of $56,875.59. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 11,941 shares in the company, valued at $462,952.57. This represents a 14.01 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 8.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Equity Bancshares Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 30th were paid a $0.15 dividend. This is a boost from Equity Bancshares’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.12. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 30th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.26%. Equity Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio is currently 54.55%.

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.