Equity Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQBK) to Issue $0.12 Quarterly Dividend

Equity Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQBK) declared a quarterly dividend on Friday, March 15th, Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Friday, March 29th will be given a dividend of 0.12 per share by the bank on Monday, April 15th. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.44%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 27th.

Equity Bancshares has a dividend payout ratio of 11.1% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Equity Bancshares to earn $4.35 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.48 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 11.0%.

Equity Bancshares Stock Performance

EQBK traded up $0.13 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $33.38. The stock had a trading volume of 7,725 shares, compared to its average volume of 54,622. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $32.46 and a 200-day moving average price of $29.32. The firm has a market cap of $515.39 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.36 and a beta of 0.88. Equity Bancshares has a one year low of $20.50 and a one year high of $34.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.87.

Equity Bancshares (NASDAQ:EQBK) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 24th. The bank reported $0.77 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.65 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of ($3.95) million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $47.67 million. Equity Bancshares had a return on equity of 11.60% and a net margin of 3.43%. As a group, research analysts predict that Equity Bancshares will post 3.78 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, DA Davidson boosted their price target on Equity Bancshares from $26.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, December 7th.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Brad S. Elliott sold 6,290 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $31.57, for a total value of $198,575.30. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 152,088 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,801,418.16. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, CEO Brad S. Elliott sold 6,290 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $31.57, for a total value of $198,575.30. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 152,088 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,801,418.16. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, General Counsel Brett A. Reber sold 959 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.14, for a total value of $30,822.26. Following the sale, the general counsel now owns 29,147 shares in the company, valued at approximately $936,784.58. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 8,478 shares of company stock valued at $268,894. Company insiders own 8.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Equity Bancshares

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Metropolitan Life Insurance Co NY boosted its holdings in Equity Bancshares by 40.4% in the fourth quarter. Metropolitan Life Insurance Co NY now owns 1,113 shares of the bank’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 320 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Equity Bancshares by 3.7% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 9,747 shares of the bank’s stock worth $315,000 after acquiring an additional 352 shares in the last quarter. UBS Group AG raised its stake in shares of Equity Bancshares by 4.5% in the third quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 10,639 shares of the bank’s stock worth $256,000 after purchasing an additional 456 shares during the last quarter. American International Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Equity Bancshares by 7.1% in the second quarter. American International Group Inc. now owns 7,191 shares of the bank’s stock worth $210,000 after purchasing an additional 478 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Equity Bancshares by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 40,374 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,319,000 after purchasing an additional 570 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.80% of the company’s stock.

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.