EQB Inc. (TSE:EQB) Given Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Shares of EQB Inc. (TSE:EQB) have earned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the ten research firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is C$102.56.

A number of research firms recently commented on EQB. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on EQB from C$101.00 to C$107.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, March 1st. CIBC set a C$100.00 price objective on EQB and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, April 1st. National Bank Financial cut EQB from an “outperform market weight” rating to a “sector perform market weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 28th. Veritas Investment Research reiterated a “reduce” rating on shares of EQB in a report on Friday, March 1st. Finally, National Bankshares cut EQB from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from C$98.00 to C$95.00 in a report on Thursday, February 29th.

EQB Trading Up 2.2 %

TSE:EQB opened at C$88.41 on Friday. EQB has a twelve month low of C$57.92 and a twelve month high of C$97.64. The company has a market cap of C$3.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.50, a P/E/G ratio of 0.34 and a beta of 1.67. The company’s 50-day moving average price is C$86.50 and its 200-day moving average price is C$82.99.

EQB (TSE:EQB) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, March 27th. The company reported C$2.70 earnings per share for the quarter. EQB had a net margin of 39.67% and a return on equity of 14.70%. On average, analysts expect that EQB will post 11.4900925 earnings per share for the current year.

EQB Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a dividend of $0.42 per share. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.90%. This is a boost from EQB’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. EQB’s dividend payout ratio is 18.05%.

About EQB

EQB Inc, through its subsidiary, Equitable Bank, provides personal and commercial banking services to retail and commercial customers in Canada. The company accepts term deposits and guaranteed investment certificates, high interest savings accounts, institutional deposit notes and covered bonds, as well as specialized financing solutions.