Equity Bancshares (NYSE:EQBK) Rating Lowered to Hold at Wall Street Zen

Equity Bancshares (NYSE:EQBK) was downgraded by investment analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report issued on Sunday, Wall Street Zen reports.

A number of other analysts have also recently commented on EQBK. Hovde Group upped their target price on shares of Equity Bancshares from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, September 4th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Equity Bancshares from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 11th. DA Davidson upped their price objective on Equity Bancshares from $51.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, September 4th. Royal Bank Of Canada restated a “buy” rating on shares of Equity Bancshares in a research note on Monday, June 22nd. Finally, Stephens raised their target price on Equity Bancshares from $58.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Equity Bancshares currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $55.33.

Equity Bancshares Trading Up 0.4%

Equity Bancshares stock opened at $50.23 on Friday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $50.16 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $47.32. The company has a market cap of $1.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.08 and a beta of 0.76. Equity Bancshares has a 52-week low of $38.60 and a 52-week high of $52.27. The company has a quick ratio of 0.93, a current ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58.

Equity Bancshares (NYSE:EQBK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 14th. The company reported $1.41 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.24 by $0.17. The firm had revenue of $81.93 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $85.10 million. Equity Bancshares had a net margin of 8.26% and a return on equity of 13.34%. Analysts predict that Equity Bancshares will post 5.17 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Lisa Ann Schlehuber purchased 989 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 28th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $50.98 per share, for a total transaction of $50,419.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 2,092 shares in the company, valued at $106,650.16. This trade represents a 89.66% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Donald Scott Rogerson acquired 2,000 shares of Equity Bancshares stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 21st. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $50.00 per share, with a total value of $100,000.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director owned 10,103 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $505,150. This represents a 24.68% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, insiders have purchased 4,989 shares of company stock worth $250,919 and have sold 24,500 shares worth $1,250,951. Company insiders own 14.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Equity Bancshares

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio bought a new stake in Equity Bancshares during the second quarter valued at about $36,000. IFP Advisors Inc boosted its stake in shares of Equity Bancshares by 38,500.0% in the second quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 1,544 shares of the company’s stock worth $76,000 after acquiring an additional 1,540 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System purchased a new stake in shares of Equity Bancshares during the second quarter worth about $227,000. MQS Management LLC bought a new stake in Equity Bancshares during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $286,000. Finally, Engineers Gate Manager LP bought a new stake in Equity Bancshares during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $293,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.80% of the company’s stock.

About Equity Bancshares

Equity Bancshares, Inc is the bank holding company for Equity Bank, a community-focused financial institution headquartered in Wichita, Kansas. The company provides banking services to individuals, families, businesses, agricultural customers and government entities through its branch network and digital banking channels.

Equity Bank’s products and services include checking and savings accounts, certificates of deposit, consumer lending, residential mortgages, commercial and industrial loans, commercial real estate financing, agricultural loans, treasury management and other business banking services.