EQB (TSE:EQB) Upgraded to “Buy” at TD Securities

TD Securities upgraded shares of EQB (TSE:EQB) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report published on Wednesday morning,BayStreet.CA reports. They currently have C$138.00 price objective on the stock, up from their previous price objective of C$103.00.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. BMO Capital Markets raised EQB from a “hold” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the company from C$108.00 to C$130.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 20th. National Bank Financial upped their target price on EQB from C$98.00 to C$111.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on shares of EQB from C$97.00 to C$109.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 11th. Desjardins boosted their price objective on shares of EQB from C$110.00 to C$125.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 9th. Finally, Raymond James Financial cut their price objective on shares of EQB from C$93.00 to C$91.00 in a research note on Friday, December 5th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of C$115.22.

EQB Stock Performance

TSE EQB opened at C$121.56 on Wednesday. EQB has a 52-week low of C$83.93 and a 52-week high of C$126.51. The company has a market capitalization of C$4.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.28, a P/E/G ratio of 0.34 and a beta of 0.74. The company has a fifty day moving average of C$106.73 and a 200-day moving average of C$97.54.

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

EQB Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 31st were issued a dividend of $0.57 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 15th. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.9%. This is an increase from EQB’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. EQB’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.