Equity Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:EQBK) Q3 2023 Earnings Conference Call October 18, 2023 10:00 AM ET
Company Participants
Brian Katzfey - Director of IR
Brad Elliott - Founder, Chairman & CEO
Chris Navratil - EVP & CFO
Krzysztof Slupkowski - Chief Credit Officer
Richard Sems - President, Equity Bank
Conference Call Participants
Terence McEvoy - Stephens
Jeff Rulis - D.A. Davidson
Andrew Liesch - Piper Sandler
Damon DelMonte - KBW
Operator
Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Q3 2023 Equity Bancshares, Inc. Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. After the speakers’ presentation, there will be a question-and-answer session. [Operator Instructions] Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded.
I would now like to hand the conference over to your speaker today, Brian Katzfey, Director of Investor Relations.
Brian Katzfey
Good morning. Thank you for joining us today for Equity Bancshares third quarter earnings call. Before we begin, let me remind you that today's call is being recorded and is available via webcast at investor.equitybank.com, along with our earnings release and presentation materials.
Today's presentation contains forward-looking statements, which are subject to certain risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those discussed. Following the presentation, we will allow time for questions and further discussion. Thank you all for joining us.
With that, I'd like to turn the call over to our Chairman and CEO, Brad Elliott.
Brad Elliott
Good morning, and thank you for your interest in Equity Bancshares. We're excited today to take you through our third quarter results, including beating consensus earnings, continued improvement in credit quality and a 20% increase in our quarterly dividend as we continue to emphasize shareholder return.
Before we get into the details, I'm pleased to introduce my fellow speakers, CFO, Chris Navratil, who many of you have met over the years during his tenure as our bank CFO and our Chief Credit Officer, Krzysztof Slupkowski. Each has been with our company for more than five years in senior leadership roles. Their promotions provide for a seamless transition of job responsibilities, while assuring the company has capable operators with proven track records and alignment with our company's core values. Also joining us today is our President, Rick Sems.
Let's look back at the third quarter. Our balance sheet strength, including high levels of capital, robust loan loss reserves and available liquidity has continued to provide stability in a dynamic and challenging operating environment. We believe this environment is right with opportunities, and we are excited about our prospects for organic growth in both deposits and loans, as well as M&A opportunities.