Esquire Financial (NASDAQ:ESQ) Earns “Outperform” Rating from Keefe, Bruyette & Woods

Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated their outperform rating on shares of Esquire Financial (NASDAQ:ESQ) in a report issued on Friday, MarketBeat.com reports. They currently have a $68.00 target price on the stock, up from their prior target price of $62.00.

Separately, Piper Sandler upped their price target on shares of Esquire Financial from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Monday, April 29th.

Esquire Financial Stock Performance

Esquire Financial stock opened at $57.37 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $48.94 and its 200 day moving average price is $48.59. The firm has a market capitalization of $475.77 million, a PE ratio of 12.34 and a beta of 0.72. Esquire Financial has a one year low of $43.24 and a one year high of $59.56.

Esquire Financial (NASDAQ:ESQ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The company reported $1.25 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.21 by $0.04. Esquire Financial had a return on equity of 20.43% and a net margin of 31.36%. The firm had revenue of $33.66 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $29.99 million. On average, analysts forecast that Esquire Financial will post 4.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Esquire Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 3rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 15th will be given a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 15th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.05%. Esquire Financial’s payout ratio is 12.90%.

Insider Activity at Esquire Financial

In related news, Director Selig Zises sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.89, for a total transaction of $114,725.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 107,533 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,934,689.37. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 18.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Esquire Financial

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Esquire Financial during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $127,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Esquire Financial by 0.4% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 362,390 shares of the company’s stock worth $16,558,000 after buying an additional 1,349 shares during the period. GSA Capital Partners LLP increased its position in Esquire Financial by 10.6% in the first quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP now owns 11,066 shares of the company’s stock worth $525,000 after buying an additional 1,065 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC acquired a new stake in Esquire Financial in the first quarter worth $42,000. Finally, Corient Private Wealth LLC increased its position in Esquire Financial by 156.2% in the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 17,052 shares of the company’s stock worth $852,000 after buying an additional 10,397 shares during the period. 54.66% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.