Loblaw Companies Limited Buys 8,000 Shares of EQB (TSE:EQB) Stock

EQB Inc. (TSE:EQB) insider Loblaw Companies Limited bought 8,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 20th. The shares were bought at an average price of C$134.00 per share, with a total value of C$1,072,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 1,426,100 shares of the company’s stock, valued at C$191,097,400. The trade was a 0.56% increase in their ownership of the stock.

Loblaw Companies Limited also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Tuesday, August 4th, Loblaw Companies Limited purchased 8,000 shares of EQB stock. The stock was bought at an average cost of C$142.40 per share, for a total transaction of C$1,139,200.00.
• On Thursday, August 6th, Loblaw Companies Limited acquired 8,000 shares of EQB stock. The shares were bought at an average price of C$137.62 per share, for a total transaction of C$1,100,960.00.
• On Wednesday, July 15th, Loblaw Companies Limited bought 6,100 shares of EQB stock. The stock was bought at an average price of C$143.88 per share, with a total value of C$877,668.00.
• On Friday, July 17th, Loblaw Companies Limited purchased 8,000 shares of EQB stock. The shares were purchased at an average price of C$144.62 per share, for a total transaction of C$1,156,960.00.
• On Monday, July 20th, Loblaw Companies Limited purchased 8,000 shares of EQB stock. The shares were purchased at an average cost of C$141.57 per share, with a total value of C$1,132,560.00.

EQB Trading Up 0.3%

Shares of EQB traded up C$0.44 during midday trading on Friday, reaching C$133.03. The stock had a trading volume of 43,231 shares, compared to its average volume of 117,459. The company has a market capitalization of C$4.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.34 and a beta of 0.92. The company’s 50-day moving average is C$135.76 and its 200 day moving average is C$122.81. EQB Inc. has a 12-month low of C$83.93 and a 12-month high of C$150.32.

EQB (TSE:EQB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 27th. The company reported C$2.03 earnings per share for the quarter. The company had revenue of C$302.36 million for the quarter. EQB had a return on equity of 6.16% and a net margin of 6.61%. Research analysts forecast that EQB Inc. will post 12.5988235 EPS for the current fiscal year.

EQB Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 30th were given a dividend of $0.61 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 15th. This is an increase from EQB’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. This represents a $2.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.8%. EQB’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 44.01%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on EQB shares. National Bank Financial boosted their price objective 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. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce lifted their target price on shares of EQB from C$151.00 to C$165.00 and gave the stock an “outperformer” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on shares of EQB from C$122.00 to C$129.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 13th. Scotiabank upped their price target on shares of EQB from C$122.00 to C$125.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, June 1st. Finally, Raymond James Financial lifted their price objective on EQB from C$123.00 to C$136.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 13th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of C$138.10.

EQB Company Profile

EQB Inc formerly Equitable Group Inc trades on the Toronto Stock Exchange TSX: EQB and EQB.PR.C and serves over 360000 Canadians through its wholly owned subsidiary Equitable Bank Canadas Challenger Bank. Equitable Bank has grown to become the countrys eighth largest independent Schedule I bank with a clear mandate to drive real change in Canadian banking to enrich peoples lives. At Equitable Bank we are as invested in our employees as we are in our business. Thats why we are consistently recognized as one of Canadas Top Employers a rating that comes from our 1300+ employees.