EQB (TSE:EQB) Trading Down 10.3% – Time to Sell?

EQB Inc. (TSE:EQB) shares were down 10.3% during trading on Thursday . The company traded as low as C$121.80 and last traded at C$123.66. 275,833 shares changed hands during trading, an increase of 132% from the average session volume of 118,962 shares. The stock had previously closed at C$137.87.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on EQB. Raymond James Financial increased their price objective on EQB from C$123.00 to C$136.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 13th. Desjardins increased their price target on shares of EQB from C$132.00 to C$155.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Scotiabank raised their price target on shares of EQB from C$122.00 to C$125.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, June 1st. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on shares of EQB from C$122.00 to C$129.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 13th. Finally, National Bank Financial raised their target price on shares of EQB from C$120.00 to C$143.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 13th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, EQB has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of C$138.10.

EQB Trading Down 10.0%

The company has a 50 day simple moving average of C$136.91 and a 200 day simple moving average of C$123.50. The stock has a market capitalization of C$4.40 billion, a PE ratio of 24.39, a P/E/G ratio of 0.34 and a beta of 0.92.

EQB (TSE:EQB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 26th. The company reported C$2.12 earnings per share for the quarter. EQB had a return on equity of 6.16% and a net margin of 6.61%.The company had revenue of C$393.04 million during the quarter. On average, equities research analysts predict that EQB Inc. will post 12.5988235 EPS for the current year.

EQB Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 30th were issued a $0.61 dividend. This is a positive change from EQB’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 15th. This represents a $2.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.0%. EQB’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 44.01%.

Insider Buying and Selling at EQB

In other EQB news, Director Darren Lorimer sold 1,850 shares of EQB stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$149.00, for a total transaction of C$275,650.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 5,138 shares of the company’s stock, valued at C$765,562. The trade was a 26.47% decrease in their position. Also, insider Gavin Stanley sold 900 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$137.37, for a total transaction of C$123,633.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 2,238 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately C$307,434.06. This trade represents a 28.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Over the last three months, insiders bought 46,100 shares of company stock worth $6,479,348 and sold 7,484 shares worth $1,069,719. 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.