Equity Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQBK) Shares Purchased by BNP Paribas Financial Markets

BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its stake in Equity Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQBK) by 7.8% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 3,213 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 232 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets’ holdings in Equity Bancshares were worth $131,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Mendon Capital Advisors Corp increased its stake 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 buying an additional 336,742 shares during the period. Foundry Partners LLC increased its position in shares of 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. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Equity Bancshares by 175.6% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 112,292 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $4,590,000 after acquiring an additional 71,547 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its stake in shares of Equity Bancshares by 35.2% in the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 41,585 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,464,000 after acquiring an additional 10,824 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Equity Bancshares in the second quarter valued at $322,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.80% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have weighed in on EQBK. DA Davidson upped their price target on Equity Bancshares from $42.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Stephens raised Equity Bancshares from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $46.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of Equity Bancshares from $43.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th.

Equity Bancshares Stock Down 4.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ EQBK opened at $43.51 on Thursday. Equity Bancshares, Inc. has a 1 year low of $30.44 and a 1 year high of $50.85. The company has a market capitalization of $665.27 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.55 and a beta of 0.90. 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 business has a 50-day moving average of $45.50 and a two-hundred day moving average of $40.47.

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

Equity Bancshares Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be given a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.38%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. Equity Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.