Hovde Group Issues Positive Forecast for Equity Bancshares (NASDAQ:EQBK) Stock Price

Equity Bancshares (NASDAQ:EQBK) had its price objective lifted by Hovde Group from $56.00 to $57.00 in a report published on Thursday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Hovde Group currently has an outperform rating on the bank’s stock.

A number of other analysts have also recently commented on EQBK. DA Davidson upped their price objective on shares of Equity Bancshares from $42.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on Equity Bancshares from $43.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Stephens upgraded 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. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $47.40.

Equity Bancshares Stock Up 1.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ EQBK opened at $43.31 on Thursday. Equity Bancshares has a 52-week low of $30.44 and a 52-week high of $50.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 0.86. The stock has a market cap of $662.24 million, a P/E ratio of 39.37 and a beta of 0.92. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $44.81 and a 200 day moving average price of $41.97.

Equity Bancshares Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st were given a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.39%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 31st. Equity Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 54.55%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Equity Bancshares

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Mendon Capital Advisors Corp boosted its position in Equity Bancshares by 2,539.9% during the second quarter. Mendon Capital Advisors Corp now owns 350,000 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $12,320,000 after purchasing an additional 336,742 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Equity Bancshares by 175.6% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 112,292 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $4,590,000 after buying an additional 71,547 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Equity Bancshares in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $2,809,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in shares of Equity Bancshares by 5.1% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 360,457 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $14,735,000 after buying an additional 17,431 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC increased its holdings in Equity Bancshares by 247.2% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 23,308 shares of the bank’s stock worth $953,000 after buying an additional 16,595 shares during the last quarter. 71.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.