Alliancebernstein L.P. Acquires 26,500 Shares of Equity Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQBK)

Alliancebernstein L.P. grew its stake in shares of Equity Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQBK) by 181.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 41,100 shares of the bank’s stock after buying an additional 26,500 shares during the quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P.’s holdings in Equity Bancshares were worth $1,743,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in Equity Bancshares by 740.0% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 577,230 shares of the bank’s stock worth $24,486,000 after buying an additional 508,509 shares during the period. Patriot Financial Partners GP LP increased its stake in shares of Equity Bancshares by 21.5% during the fourth quarter. Patriot Financial Partners GP LP now owns 1,217,214 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $51,634,000 after buying an additional 215,000 shares during the period. Stieven Capital Advisors L.P. bought a new position in shares of Equity Bancshares during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,121,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Equity Bancshares by 4.6% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 840,934 shares of the bank’s stock worth $35,672,000 after acquiring an additional 37,187 shares during the period. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its holdings in Equity Bancshares by 155.0% in the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 39,943 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,694,000 after acquiring an additional 24,279 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.80% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

EQBK has been the subject of several research analyst reports. DA Davidson lowered their price objective on shares of Equity Bancshares from $40.00 to $39.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on Equity Bancshares from $46.00 to $44.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Piper Sandler reduced their target price on shares of Equity Bancshares from $46.00 to $44.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Janney Montgomery Scott assumed coverage on shares of Equity Bancshares in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. They set a “neutral” rating for the company. Finally, Hovde Group upped their price target on Equity Bancshares from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $46.60.

Equity Bancshares Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ EQBK opened at $36.38 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $40.00 and its 200-day moving average price is $42.59. Equity Bancshares, Inc. has a 52-week low of $30.98 and a 52-week high of $50.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 0.86. The company has a market cap of $636.99 million, a PE ratio of 9.14 and a beta of 0.73.

Equity Bancshares Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st were given a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 31st. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.65%. Equity Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 15.27%.

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.