Loblaw Companies Limited Buys 8,000 Shares of EQB (TSE:EQB) Stock

EQB Inc. (TSE:EQB) insider Loblaw Companies Limited acquired 8,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 17th. The shares were bought at an average cost of C$144.62 per share, for a total transaction of C$1,156,960.00. Following the acquisition, the insider directly owned 1,242,100 shares in the company, valued at C$179,632,502. This represents a 0.65% increase in their position.

Loblaw Companies Limited also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Wednesday, July 15th, Loblaw Companies Limited bought 6,100 shares of EQB stock. The shares were purchased at an average cost of C$143.88 per share, for a total transaction of C$877,668.00.
• On Monday, July 20th, Loblaw Companies Limited bought 8,000 shares of EQB stock. The stock was purchased at an average price of C$141.57 per share, for a total transaction of C$1,132,560.00.

EQB Price Performance

TSE:EQB traded down C$1.89 during trading hours on Monday, hitting C$140.76. The stock had a trading volume of 150,669 shares, compared to its average volume of 122,838. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of C$125.25 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of C$117.22. The firm has a market capitalization of C$4.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.65, a P/E/G ratio of 0.34 and a beta of 0.93. EQB Inc. has a one year low of C$83.93 and a one year high of C$150.32.

EQB (TSE:EQB) last posted 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 business had revenue of C$302.36 million during the quarter. Equities research analysts anticipate that EQB Inc. will post 12.5988235 earnings per share for the current year.

EQB Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 30th were given a dividend of $0.61 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 15th. This is a positive change from EQB’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. This represents a $2.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.7%. EQB’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 44.01%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on EQB shares. Raymond James Financial lowered their price target on shares of EQB from C$127.00 to C$123.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 29th. National Bank Financial set a C$120.00 target price on shares of EQB and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, May 15th. Desjardins raised their target price on EQB from C$130.00 to C$132.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on EQB from C$110.00 to C$112.00 in a report on Wednesday, May 20th. Finally, TD dropped their price objective on EQB from C$132.00 to C$123.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 28th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of C$122.50.

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.