EQB (TSE:EQB) Stock Crosses Above 200 Day Moving Average – What’s Next?

EQB Inc. (TSE:EQB)’s stock price crossed above its 200-day moving average during trading on Wednesday. The stock has a 200-day moving average of C$122.52 and traded as high as C$128.50. EQB shares last traded at C$127.87, with a volume of 130,146 shares traded.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

EQB has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce reduced their target price on EQB from C$165.00 to C$154.00 and set an “outperformer” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 28th. National Bank Financial increased their price target on shares of EQB from C$120.00 to C$143.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 13th. Desjardins cut their price objective on shares of EQB from C$155.00 to C$150.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 28th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on shares of EQB from C$128.00 to C$127.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 3rd. Finally, Raymond James Financial raised shares of EQB from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from C$120.00 to C$124.00 in a research note on Tuesday. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of C$139.50.

EQB Stock Up 4.6%

The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of C$124.21 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of C$122.52. The firm has a market cap of C$5.44 billion, a PE ratio of -456.68, a P/E/G ratio of 0.34 and a beta of 0.86.

EQB (TSE:EQB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 26th. The company reported C$2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. EQB had a negative return on equity of 0.07% and a negative net margin of 0.08%. The firm had revenue of C$393.04 million during the quarter. Research analysts expect that EQB Inc. will post 12.60 earnings per share for the current year.

EQB Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 29th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 29th were issued a dividend of $0.63 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 15th. This represents a $2.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.0%. This is a positive change from EQB’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.61. EQB’s payout ratio is -828.57%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Loblaw Companies Limited bought 8,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 25th. The stock was acquired at an average price of C$127.05 per share, with a total value of C$1,016,400.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider directly owned 1,780,100 shares in the company, valued at C$226,161,705. This represents a 0.45% increase in their ownership of the stock. Also, Director Andrew Michael Bunston purchased 200 shares of EQB stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 22nd. The shares were acquired at an average price of C$126.37 per share, for a total transaction of C$25,274.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 200 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately C$25,274. The trade was a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. Insiders purchased a total of 184,200 shares of company stock valued at $23,628,874 in the last 90 days. 29.02% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

About EQB

EQB Inc (TSX: EQB) is a leading Canadian financial services company with approximately $151 billion in combined assets under management and administration. It is the parent company of Equitable Bank, the country’s seventh largest Schedule I bank by assets, which operates EQ Bank, Canada’s Challenger Bank. Our purpose is to remake banking so every Canadian gets ahead, every day. Since 1970, we have built thoughtful financial solutions that serve more than 4 million customers, turning everyday moments into meaningful progress.