Gregory L. Gaeddert Sells 6,000 Shares of Equity Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQBK) Stock

Equity Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQBK) Director Gregory L. Gaeddert sold 6,000 shares of Equity Bancshares stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.99, for a total value of $245,940.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 17,167 shares in the company, valued at approximately $703,675.33. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link.

Equity Bancshares Trading Up 3.0 %

Shares of EQBK stock traded up $1.21 on Thursday, reaching $41.43. 27,380 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 51,017. The stock has a market cap of $631.81 million, a PE ratio of 68.57 and a beta of 0.90. Equity Bancshares, Inc. has a one year low of $22.78 and a one year high of $41.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 0.83 and a quick ratio of 0.83. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $34.92 and a 200 day moving average price of $33.62.

Equity Bancshares Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 28th were given a dividend of $0.12 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 28th. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.16%. Equity Bancshares’s payout ratio is currently 80.00%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

EQBK has been the topic of several recent research reports. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on Equity Bancshares from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, June 13th. Stephens boosted their price target on Equity Bancshares from $39.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on Equity Bancshares from $38.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Equity Bancshares currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $39.00.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Equity Bancshares

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in EQBK. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Equity Bancshares by 1.3% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 764,382 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $18,399,000 after purchasing an additional 9,639 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its holdings in Equity Bancshares by 31.7% in the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 8,978 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $304,000 after purchasing an additional 2,162 shares during the last quarter. Denali Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Equity Bancshares by 25.5% in the fourth quarter. Denali Advisors LLC now owns 6,400 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $217,000 after purchasing an additional 1,300 shares during the last quarter. Rocky Mountain Advisers LLC bought a new stake in Equity Bancshares in the fourth quarter valued at about $69,000. Finally, Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. bought a new stake in Equity Bancshares in the fourth quarter valued at about $449,000. Institutional investors own 71.80% of the company’s stock.

About Equity Bancshares

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.