Equity Bancshares (NYSE:EQBK) Stock Rating Lowered by Zacks Research

Equity Bancshares (NYSE:EQBK) was downgraded by stock analysts at Zacks Research from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued on Monday, Zacks reports.

EQBK has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Equity Bancshares from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 11th. Piper Sandler increased their price target on Equity Bancshares from $52.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 16th. DA Davidson set a $50.00 price target on Equity Bancshares in a research note on Friday, October 16th. Hovde Group raised their price target on Equity Bancshares from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 4th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut Equity Bancshares from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, September 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $53.67.

Equity Bancshares Price Performance

Shares of Equity Bancshares stock opened at $49.10 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.42 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a quick ratio of 0.93, a current ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $48.60 and its 200-day simple moving average is $47.35. Equity Bancshares has a 52 week low of $40.00 and a 52 week high of $52.27.

Equity Bancshares (NYSE:EQBK) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 14th. The company reported $1.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.29 by $0.11. Equity Bancshares had a return on equity of 13.73% and a net margin of 20.34%. The firm had revenue of $83.73 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $84.91 million. As a group, analysts expect that Equity Bancshares will post 5.17 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Donald Scott Rogerson bought 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 21st. The shares were bought at an average price of $50.00 per share, for a total transaction of $100,000.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 10,103 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $505,150. This trade represents a 24.68% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 14.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Equity Bancshares

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Equity Bancshares by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 745,825 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,122,000 after purchasing an additional 2,758 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC grew its stake in Equity Bancshares by 8.4% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 87,024 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,865,000 after buying an additional 6,707 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new position in Equity Bancshares during the 2nd quarter worth $3,967,000. First Trust Advisors LP increased its position in Equity Bancshares by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 48,621 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,159,000 after buying an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Finally, HB Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Equity Bancshares during the 1st quarter valued at about $1,585,000. 71.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Equity Bancshares

Equity Bancshares, Inc is a financial holding company headquartered in Wichita, Kansas. Through its principal subsidiary, Equity Bank, the company provides banking services to businesses, agricultural operations, institutions and individual consumers.

Equity Bank’s products and services include commercial and agricultural lending, real estate financing, consumer loans, deposit accounts, treasury management, online and mobile banking, mortgage services and wealth management. The bank also provides cash-management and other financial solutions designed to support business and community banking customers.

Founded in 2002, Equity Bancshares has expanded through organic growth and the acquisition of community banks.