Selig Zises Sells 20,000 Shares of Esquire Financial Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:ESQ) Stock

Esquire Financial Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:ESQ) Director Selig Zises sold 20,000 shares of Esquire Financial stock in a transaction on Friday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.59, for a total transaction of $1,551,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 35,501 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,754,522.59. This trade represents a 36.04 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

Esquire Financial Price Performance

ESQ opened at $73.87 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $82.45 and a 200-day moving average price of $73.05. The firm has a market cap of $614.67 million, a PE ratio of 14.32 and a beta of 0.78. Esquire Financial Holdings, Inc. has a 1 year low of $44.45 and a 1 year high of $90.18.

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

Esquire Financial Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th were given a $0.175 dividend. This represents a $0.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.95%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This is a positive change from Esquire Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. Esquire Financial’s payout ratio is currently 13.57%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Esquire Financial

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC raised its position in Esquire Financial by 151.0% in the 4th quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 788 shares of the company’s stock worth $63,000 after buying an additional 474 shares during the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its position in Esquire Financial by 36.6% in the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 798 shares of the company’s stock worth $52,000 after buying an additional 214 shares during the last quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP purchased a new position in Esquire Financial in the 3rd quarter worth about $54,000. FMR LLC raised its position in Esquire Financial by 14.3% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,115 shares of the company’s stock worth $138,000 after buying an additional 264 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jump Financial LLC purchased a new position in Esquire Financial in the 4th quarter worth about $207,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 54.66% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have commented on the company. Raymond James lowered Esquire Financial from a “strong-buy” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued a “market perform” rating and set a $85.00 price objective (up previously from $80.00) on shares of Esquire Financial in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their price objective 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.