EQB (TSE:EQB) Reaches New 1-Year High – Time to Buy?

EQB Inc. (TSE:EQB)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as C$126.37 and last traded at C$125.91, with a volume of 98987 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at C$122.60.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

EQB has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Desjardins boosted their target price on EQB from C$130.00 to C$132.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. TD Securities reduced their price target on EQB from C$138.00 to C$132.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on EQB from C$110.00 to C$112.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 20th. National Bank Financial set a C$120.00 price objective on EQB and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 15th. Finally, Scotiabank increased their price objective on EQB from C$122.00 to C$125.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, June 1st. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of C$122.50.

EQB Stock Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of C$4.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.34 and a beta of 1.01. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of C$118.07 and a two-hundred day moving average price of C$111.29.

EQB (TSE:EQB) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 27th. The company reported C$2.03 EPS 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$302.36 million during the quarter. Equities analysts anticipate that EQB Inc. will post 12.5988235 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

EQB Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 30th will be given a dividend of $0.61 per share. This represents a $2.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 15th. This is an increase from EQB’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. EQB’s payout ratio is presently 44.01%.

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.