EQB (TSE:EQB) Hits New 52-Week High on Analyst Upgrade

EQB Inc. (TSE:EQB)’s share price reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Tuesday after TD Securities upgraded the stock from a hold rating to a buy rating. TD Securities now has a C$138.00 price target on the stock, up from their previous price target of C$103.00. EQB traded as high as C$119.88 and last traded at C$119.32, with a volume of 20375 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at C$117.83.

A number of other equities research analysts have also issued reports on the stock. Desjardins upped their target price on shares of EQB from C$110.00 to C$125.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 9th. BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of EQB from a “hold” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from C$108.00 to C$130.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of EQB from C$97.00 to C$109.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 11th. Raymond James Financial lowered their target price on EQB from C$93.00 to C$91.00 in a report on Friday, December 5th. Finally, Scotiabank increased their price target on EQB from C$102.00 to C$105.00 in a report on Friday, January 9th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of C$115.22.

EQB Stock Performance

The company has a 50 day moving average price of C$106.73 and a 200 day moving average price of C$97.54. The firm has a market cap of C$4.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.34 and a beta of 0.74.

EQB (TSE:EQB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, December 3rd. The company reported C$6.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. EQB had a net margin of 13.04% and a return on equity of 8.52%. On average, research analysts forecast that EQB Inc. will post 12.5988235 earnings per share for the current year.

EQB Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 31st were issued a $0.57 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 15th. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.9%. This is an increase from EQB’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. EQB’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 31.28%.

About EQB

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.