EQB (TSE:EQB) Reaches New 52-Week High After Analyst Upgrade

EQB Inc. (TSE:EQB)’s share price hit a new 52-week high during trading on Monday after Desjardins raised their price target on the stock from C$110.00 to C$125.00. Desjardins currently has a buy rating on the stock. EQB traded as high as C$115.58 and last traded at C$115.39, with a volume of 19525 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at C$114.32.

EQB has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on shares of EQB from C$107.00 to C$93.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 25th. TD Securities lifted their price target on shares of EQB from C$96.00 to C$103.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, December 5th. Veritas raised shares of EQB to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, December 1st. Raymond James Financial dropped their target price on EQB from C$93.00 to C$91.00 in a research report on Friday, December 5th. Finally, Scotiabank upped their target price on EQB from C$102.00 to C$105.00 in a research note on Friday, January 9th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of C$107.11.

EQB Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of C$4.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.76, a P/E/G ratio of 0.34 and a beta of 0.74. The firm has a fifty day moving average of C$104.01 and a two-hundred day moving average of C$96.92.

EQB (TSE:EQB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, December 3rd. The company reported C$6.56 EPS for the quarter. EQB had a net margin of 13.04% and a return on equity of 8.52%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that EQB Inc. will post 12.5988235 EPS for the current fiscal year.

EQB Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 31st were given a $0.57 dividend. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 15th. This is a positive change from EQB’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. EQB’s dividend payout ratio is presently 31.28%.

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.