Equity Bancshares (NASDAQ:EQBK) Shares Gap Up to $31.84

Equity Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQBK)’s stock price gapped up before the market opened on Wednesday . The stock had previously closed at $31.84, but opened at $33.15. Equity Bancshares shares last traded at $33.13, with a volume of 4,387 shares changing hands.

Equity Bancshares Trading Up 2.5 %

The stock has a market capitalization of $504.12 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 70.19 and a beta of 0.89. The company’s 50 day moving average is $32.53 and its 200 day moving average is $30.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a current ratio of 0.87.

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

Equity Bancshares Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Investors of record on Friday, March 29th were paid a dividend of $0.12 per share. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.47%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 27th. Equity Bancshares’s payout ratio is currently 102.13%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Equity Bancshares

In other Equity Bancshares news, CEO Brad S. Elliott sold 6,290 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.57, for a total value of $198,575.30. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 152,088 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,801,418.16. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other Equity Bancshares news, EVP Julie A. Huber sold 1,050 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.14, for a total value of $33,747.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 56,918 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,829,344.52. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Brad S. Elliott sold 6,290 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.57, for a total transaction of $198,575.30. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 152,088 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,801,418.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 8,478 shares of company stock valued at $268,894 in the last 90 days. 8.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Equity Bancshares

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Quadrature Capital Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Equity Bancshares in the 4th quarter worth about $322,000. Mendon Capital Advisors Corp bought a new stake in shares of Equity Bancshares in the 4th quarter worth about $14,694,000. Barclays PLC grew its holdings in shares of Equity Bancshares by 125.6% in the 4th quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 31,903 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,081,000 after purchasing an additional 17,760 shares during the last quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Equity Bancshares in the 4th quarter worth about $234,000. Finally, Nuveen Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Equity Bancshares by 19.0% in the 4th quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 39,444 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,337,000 after purchasing an additional 6,298 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.80% of the company’s stock.

Equity Bancshares Company Profile

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.