Vise Technologies Inc. Buys Shares of 5,724 Esquire Financial Holdings, Inc. $ESQ

Vise Technologies Inc. bought a new stake in Esquire Financial Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:ESQ) in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund bought 5,724 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $682,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of ESQ. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Esquire Financial by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. now owns 800,465 shares of the company’s stock valued at $81,703,000 after purchasing an additional 23,692 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in Esquire Financial during the 2nd quarter worth $71,659,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Esquire Financial by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 450,577 shares of the company’s stock valued at $45,990,000 after buying an additional 11,699 shares in the last quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP raised its stake in Esquire Financial by 0.5% in the third quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 368,064 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,563,000 after buying an additional 1,878 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Copeland Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Esquire Financial by 14.7% in the first quarter. Copeland Capital Management LLC now owns 304,647 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,750,000 after buying an additional 39,097 shares during the last quarter. 54.66% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on ESQ shares. Wall Street Zen raised Esquire Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, August 8th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Esquire Financial from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (a-)” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 13th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has assigned a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Esquire Financial currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $120.33.

Insider Buying and Selling at Esquire Financial

In related news, Director Robert Mitzman sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $129.60, for a total transaction of $388,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 139,679 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,102,398.40. This trade represents a 2.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 13.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Esquire Financial Stock Performance

Shares of ESQ stock opened at $115.31 on Monday. Esquire Financial Holdings, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $92.10 and a fifty-two week high of $134.82. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.40 billion, a PE ratio of 19.03 and a beta of 0.38. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $121.79 and its 200-day simple moving average is $113.24.

Esquire Financial (NASDAQ:ESQ) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The company reported $1.60 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.56 by $0.04. Esquire Financial had a return on equity of 18.22% and a net margin of 29.30%.The firm had revenue of $42.13 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $41.59 million. Sell-side analysts forecast that Esquire Financial Holdings, Inc. will post 6.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Esquire Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 14th will be issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 14th. Esquire Financial’s dividend payout ratio is 13.20%.

Esquire Financial Company Profile

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.