Esquire Financial Holdings, Inc. (ESQ) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.18 on March 3rd

Esquire Financial Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:ESQ) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, January 30th,RTT News reports. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a dividend of 0.175 per share on Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This is an increase from Esquire Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15.

Esquire Financial has a dividend payout ratio of 10.0% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Esquire Financial to earn $6.02 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.60 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 10.0%.

Esquire Financial Trading Up 2.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ:ESQ opened at $89.37 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $743.56 million, a PE ratio of 17.32 and a beta of 0.73. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $80.67 and a 200 day simple moving average of $68.99. Esquire Financial has a 12-month low of $44.45 and a 12-month high of $90.18.

Esquire Financial (NASDAQ:ESQ) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The company reported $1.37 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.38 by ($0.01). Esquire Financial had a net margin of 31.58% and a return on equity of 19.93%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Esquire Financial will post 5.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Joseph Melohn sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.15, for a total transaction of $237,450.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 3,683 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $291,509.45. This represents a 44.89 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Selig Zises sold 8,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.77, for a total transaction of $614,160.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 62,601 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,805,878.77. This trade represents a 11.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 18.90% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ESQ has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and issued a $85.00 price target (up from $80.00) on shares of Esquire Financial in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Raymond James downgraded Esquire Financial from a “strong-buy” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their price target on Esquire Financial from $85.00 to $91.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th.

Esquire Financial Company Profile

Esquire Financial Holdings, Inc operates as the bank holding company for Esquire Bank, National Association that provides commercial banking products and services to legal industry and small businesses, and commercial and retail customers in the United States. The company offers checking, savings, money market, and time deposits, as well as certificates of deposit.