Esquire Financial (NASDAQ:ESQ) Director Selig Zises Sells 25,000 Shares

Esquire Financial Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:ESQ) Director Selig Zises sold 25,000 shares of Esquire Financial stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $106.54, for a total transaction of $2,663,500.00. Following the sale, the director owned 8,501 shares in the company, valued at approximately $905,696.54. The trade was a 74.62% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website.

Selig Zises also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Thursday, March 19th, Selig Zises sold 5,000 shares of Esquire Financial stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.10, for a total transaction of $525,500.00.

Esquire Financial Trading Down 0.7%

ESQ traded down $0.70 during trading on Friday, hitting $105.45. 86,821 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 86,599. The company has a market cap of $911.10 million, a PE ratio of 17.93 and a beta of 0.47. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $107.17 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $103.40. Esquire Financial Holdings, Inc. has a 1 year low of $69.14 and a 1 year high of $134.82.

Esquire Financial (NASDAQ:ESQ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 22nd. The company reported $1.55 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.56 by ($0.01). Esquire Financial had a net margin of 30.90% and a return on equity of 18.28%. The company had revenue of $39.40 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $31.93 million. Equities analysts expect that Esquire Financial Holdings, Inc. will post 5.52 EPS for the current year.

Esquire Financial Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 13th were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This is a positive change from Esquire Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.18. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 13th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. Esquire Financial’s payout ratio is currently 13.61%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Esquire Financial

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in ESQ. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd grew its holdings in Esquire Financial by 247.8% during the 4th quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 553 shares of the company’s stock valued at $56,000 after purchasing an additional 394 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Esquire Financial by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 40,968 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,182,000 after buying an additional 1,431 shares during the period. Uniplan Investment Counsel Inc. boosted its position in shares of Esquire Financial by 57.6% during the fourth quarter. Uniplan Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 25,234 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,576,000 after buying an additional 9,222 shares during the period. Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of Esquire Financial during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $989,000. Finally, Numerai GP LLC raised its holdings in shares of Esquire Financial by 27.4% in the fourth quarter. Numerai GP LLC now owns 9,963 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,017,000 after buying an additional 2,141 shares during the period. 54.66% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Esquire Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 14th. Raymond James Financial upgraded Esquire Financial from a “market perform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $125.00 price target for the company in a research report on Friday, March 13th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on Esquire Financial from $115.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered Esquire Financial from a “buy (a-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Tuesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Esquire Financial has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $120.33.

About Esquire Financial

Esquire Financial Holdings, Inc is a bank holding company whose principal subsidiary, Esquire Bank, specializes in residential mortgage lending and community banking services. Headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri, the company operates through multiple distribution channels, including retail branches, wholesale and correspondent lending divisions. Esquire Financial focuses on tailored home financing solutions while maintaining a community-oriented approach to banking.

In its mortgage lending business, Esquire Bank originates and services a range of home loan products, including government-insured mortgages (FHA, VA and USDA) as well as conventional conforming and jumbo loans.