EQB (TSE:EQB) Sets New 52-Week High on Analyst Upgrade

Shares of EQB Inc. (TSE:EQB) hit a new 52-week high during trading on Monday after BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on the stock from C$106.00 to C$119.00. The stock traded as high as C$109.80 and last traded at C$109.33, with a volume of 28101 shares. The stock had previously closed at C$107.87.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on EQB. TD Securities dropped their target price on EQB from C$112.00 to C$109.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 30th. Scotiabank cut their target price on shares of EQB from C$113.00 to C$109.00 in a research report on Monday, August 19th. Raymond James lowered their price target on shares of EQB from C$110.00 to C$106.00 in a research report on Wednesday, August 21st. CIBC increased their price objective on shares of EQB from C$105.00 to C$113.00 in a report on Friday, September 6th. Finally, Cormark lowered their target price on shares of EQB from C$121.00 to C$111.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of C$108.00.

EQB Stock Performance

The company has a 50-day moving average of C$105.25 and a 200-day moving average of C$96.59. The firm has a market capitalization of C$4.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.34 and a beta of 1.59.

EQB (TSE:EQB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 28th. The company reported C$2.96 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of C$2.93 by C$0.03. EQB had a net margin of 39.67% and a return on equity of 14.70%. The company had revenue of C$327.24 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of C$325.00 million. As a group, analysts anticipate that EQB Inc. will post 12.5988235 EPS for the current fiscal year.

EQB Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 30th were issued a dividend of $0.47 per share. This represents a $1.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.74%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 13th. This is a boost from EQB’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. EQB’s dividend payout ratio is 19.75%.

EQB Company Profile

EQB Inc, through its subsidiary, Equitable Bank, provides personal and commercial banking services to retail and commercial customers in Canada. The company accepts term deposits and guaranteed investment certificates, high interest savings accounts, institutional deposit notes and covered bonds, as well as specialized financing solutions.