EQB (TSE:EQB) Hits New 12-Month High – Still a Buy?

EQB Inc. (TSE:EQB)’s stock price reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as C$111.91 and last traded at C$111.34, with a volume of 80496 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at C$108.91.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on EQB shares. Raymond James Financial lowered their price objective on EQB from C$93.00 to C$91.00 in a research report on Friday, December 5th. BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of EQB from a “hold” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the stock from C$108.00 to C$130.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 20th. Desjardins upped their price target on shares of EQB from C$107.00 to C$110.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 18th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on shares of EQB from C$107.00 to C$93.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 25th. Finally, TD Securities lifted their target price on shares of EQB from C$96.00 to C$103.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, December 5th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, EQB presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of C$105.44.

EQB Price Performance

The firm’s 50-day moving average price is C$102.24 and its 200-day moving average price is C$96.75. The stock has a market cap of C$4.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.77, a PEG ratio of 0.34 and a beta of 0.74.

EQB (TSE:EQB) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, December 3rd. The company reported C$6.56 earnings per share for the quarter. EQB had a net margin of 13.04% and a return on equity of 8.52%. Sell-side analysts expect that EQB Inc. will post 12.5988235 earnings per share for the current year.

EQB Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 31st were given a dividend of $0.57 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 15th. This is a positive change from EQB’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.0%. EQB’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.