Insider Selling: Equity Bancshares (NYSE:EQBK) General Counsel Sells 1,686 Shares of Stock

Equity Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:EQBK) General Counsel Brett Reber sold 1,686 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.85, for a total value of $80,675.10. Following the transaction, the general counsel owned 34,495 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,650,585.75. The trade was a 4.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website.

Equity Bancshares Stock Down 0.1%

Shares of NYSE:EQBK traded down $0.03 during trading on Thursday, hitting $47.89. 113,142 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 104,148. Equity Bancshares, Inc. has a 52 week low of $36.04 and a 52 week high of $50.07. The company has a current ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. The company has a market cap of $988.58 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.01 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $45.62 and a 200-day moving average price of $45.50.

Equity Bancshares (NYSE:EQBK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 14th. The company reported $1.32 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.15 by $0.17. Equity Bancshares had a return on equity of 12.85% and a net margin of 6.15%.The business had revenue of $83.26 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $85.24 million. As a group, research analysts forecast that Equity Bancshares, Inc. will post 5.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Equity Bancshares Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 30th will be given a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 30th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.5%. Equity Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio is 57.14%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Equity Bancshares

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Bank of America Corp DE increased its stake in shares of Equity Bancshares by 98.7% in the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 32,616 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,448,000 after buying an additional 16,200 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC grew its stake in Equity Bancshares by 8.4% in the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 87,024 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,865,000 after acquiring an additional 6,707 shares during the period. Quantinno Capital Management LP boosted its position in shares of Equity Bancshares by 74.5% during the first quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 15,444 shares of the company’s stock valued at $686,000 after buying an additional 6,593 shares during the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. lifted its holdings in Equity Bancshares by 38.1% during the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 17,531 shares of the company’s stock worth $779,000 after acquiring an additional 4,836 shares during the period. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP lifted its holdings in Equity Bancshares by 0.6% during the first quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 48,621 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,159,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares during the period. 71.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

EQBK has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on Equity Bancshares from $57.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. Weiss Ratings lowered Equity Bancshares from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 12th. DA Davidson decreased their price objective on Equity Bancshares from $48.00 to $47.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 16th. Finally, Hovde Group assumed coverage on Equity Bancshares in a report on Wednesday. They set a “market perform” rating and a $51.00 target price on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $51.25.

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.