EQB (TSE:EQB) Reaches New 1-Year High – Should You Buy?

EQB Inc. (TSE:EQB) reached a new 52-week high on Wednesday . The company traded as high as C$143.00 and last traded at C$142.99, with a volume of 27734 shares. The stock had previously closed at C$136.51.

Analyst Ratings Changes

EQB has been the topic of several research analyst reports. TD reduced their price objective on shares of EQB from C$132.00 to C$123.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 28th. Desjardins increased their target price on shares of EQB from C$130.00 to C$132.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. National Bank Financial set a C$120.00 price target on shares of EQB and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 15th. Scotiabank lifted 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 reduced their price target on shares of EQB from C$127.00 to C$123.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of C$122.50.

EQB Price Performance

The stock has a 50 day moving average price of C$124.36 and a two-hundred day moving average price of C$116.68. The firm has a market capitalization of C$5.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.49, a PEG ratio of 0.34 and a beta of 0.93.

EQB (TSE:EQB) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 27th. The company reported C$2.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. EQB had a return on equity of 6.16% and a net margin of 6.61%.The firm had revenue of C$302.36 million for the quarter. As a group, research analysts expect that EQB Inc. will post 12.5988235 earnings per share 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 paid a dividend of $0.61 per share. This represents a $2.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.7%. This is a boost from EQB’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 15th. EQB’s payout ratio is currently 44.01%.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider David Wilkes sold 400 shares of EQB stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of C$139.07, for a total value of C$55,628.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 1,207 shares in the company, valued at approximately C$167,857.49. The trade was a 24.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Also, Director Daniel Broten sold 1,500 shares of EQB stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of C$141.74, for a total transaction of C$212,610.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 5,033 shares of the company’s stock, valued at C$713,377.42. This trade represents a 22.96% decrease in their position. Insiders have sold 2,243 shares of company stock worth $316,526 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 29.02% of the company’s stock.

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.