Esquire Financial Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:ESQ) Plans Quarterly Dividend of $0.18

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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.78%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This is an increase from Esquire Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15.

Esquire Financial has a payout ratio of 10.0% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. 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 Stock Performance

ESQ opened at $89.37 on Friday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $80.67 and its 200 day simple moving average is $68.99. Esquire Financial has a 52-week low of $44.45 and a 52-week high of $90.18. The firm has a market capitalization of $743.56 million, a PE ratio of 17.32 and a beta of 0.73.

Esquire Financial (NASDAQ:ESQ) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The company reported $1.37 earnings per share 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%. On average, research analysts forecast that Esquire Financial will post 5.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Esquire Financial news, Director Rena Nigam acquired 640 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 9th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $77.50 per share, with a total value of $49,600.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 1,867 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $144,692.50. This trade represents a 52.16 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Selig Zises sold 8,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.77, for a total transaction of $614,160.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 62,601 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,805,878.77. This trade represents a 11.33 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 18.90% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

About Esquire Financial

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.