Equity Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQBK) to Issue Dividend Increase – $0.15 Per Share

Equity Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQBK) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, September 18th, Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 30th will be given a dividend of 0.15 per share by the bank on Tuesday, October 15th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.44%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 30th. This is a boost from Equity Bancshares’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.12.

Equity Bancshares has a payout ratio of 11.4% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Equity Bancshares to earn $4.12 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 11.7%.

Equity Bancshares Price Performance

EQBK stock traded up $0.19 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $41.57. The stock had a trading volume of 46,765 shares, compared to its average volume of 48,295. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $39.08 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $35.36. Equity Bancshares has a 1-year low of $22.78 and a 1-year high of $42.64. The stock has a market cap of $634.07 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 68.97 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 0.84.

Equity Bancshares (NASDAQ:EQBK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 16th. The bank reported $0.99 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.07. Equity Bancshares had a return on equity of 12.43% and a net margin of 3.75%. The company had revenue of $55.43 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $54.56 million. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Equity Bancshares will post 4.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Equity Bancshares

In other news, CEO Brad S. Elliott sold 24,801 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.64, for a total transaction of $1,007,912.64. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 151,616 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,161,674.24. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, Director Gregory L. Gaeddert sold 6,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.99, for a total transaction of $245,940.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 17,167 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $703,675.33. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Brad S. Elliott sold 24,801 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.64, for a total value of $1,007,912.64. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 151,616 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,161,674.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 8.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Piper Sandler upped their target price on Equity Bancshares from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 13th. Stephens upped their price objective on Equity Bancshares from $39.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on Equity Bancshares from $38.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Equity Bancshares presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $39.00.

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.