Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) versus Esquire Financial (NASDAQ:ESQ) Head to Head Survey

Esquire Financial (NASDAQ:ESQ) and Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) are both finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, profitability, institutional ownership, earnings, dividends, risk and analyst recommendations.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and target prices for Esquire Financial and Wells Fargo & Company, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Esquire Financial	0	1	2	1	3.00
Wells Fargo & Company	0	7	16	2	2.80

Esquire Financial presently has a consensus target price of $120.33, suggesting a potential upside of 1.49%. Wells Fargo & Company has a consensus target price of $99.47, suggesting a potential upside of 18.89%. Given Wells Fargo & Company’s higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Wells Fargo & Company is more favorable than Esquire Financial.

Volatility and Risk

Esquire Financial has a beta of 0.4, suggesting that its share price is 60% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Wells Fargo & Company has a beta of 0.96, suggesting that its share price is 4% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Esquire Financial and Wells Fargo & Company’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Esquire Financial	29.30%	18.22%	2.27%
Wells Fargo & Company	17.55%	13.85%	1.06%

Dividends

Esquire Financial pays an annual dividend of $0.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.7%. Wells Fargo & Company pays an annual dividend of $2.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.4%. Esquire Financial pays out 13.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Wells Fargo & Company pays out 29.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Esquire Financial has increased its dividend for 4 consecutive years and Wells Fargo & Company has increased its dividend for 4 consecutive years.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Esquire Financial and Wells Fargo & Company”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Esquire Financial	$164.50 million	8.72	$50.82 million	$6.06	19.57
Wells Fargo & Company	$123.53 billion	2.05	$21.34 billion	$6.88	12.16

Wells Fargo & Company has higher revenue and earnings than Esquire Financial. Wells Fargo & Company is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Esquire Financial, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

54.7% of Esquire Financial shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 75.9% of Wells Fargo & Company shares are owned by institutional investors. 13.9% of Esquire Financial shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.1% of Wells Fargo & Company shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Wells Fargo & Company beats Esquire Financial on 9 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

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. It also provides commercial loans, such as short-term financing for inventory, receivables, the purchase of supplies, or other operating needs arising during the normal course of business, as well as loans to its qualified ISO customers; commercial lines of credit; consumer loans consisting of post-settlement consumer and structured settlement loans to plaintiffs and claimants, as well as loans to individuals for debt consolidation, medical expenses, living expenses, payment of outstanding bills, or other consumer needs; and real estate loans, such as multifamily, 1-4 family residential, commercial real estate, and construction loans, as well as merchant services. In addition, it offers cash management, cash sweep, online and mobile banking, individual retirement accounts, and working capital lines of credit. Esquire Financial Holdings, Inc. was founded in 2006 and is headquartered in Jericho, New York.

About Wells Fargo & Company

Wells Fargo & Co. is a diversified and community-based financial services company, which engages in the provision of banking, insurance, investments, mortgage, and consumer and commercial finance products and services. It operates through the following segments: Consumer Banking and Lending, Commercial Banking, Corporate and Investment Banking, and Wealth and Investment Management. The Consumer Banking and Lending segment offers consumer and small business banking, home lending, credit cards, auto, and personal lending. The Commercial Banking segment provides banking and credit products across industry sectors and municipalities, secured lending and lease products, and treasury management. The Corporate and Investment Banking segment is composed of corporate banking, investment banking, treasury management, commercial real estate lending and servicing, and equity and fixed income solutions, as well as sales, trading, and research capabilities. The Wealth and Investment Management segment refers to personalized wealth management, brokerage, financial planning, lending, private banking, trust, and fiduciary products and services. The company was founded by Henry Wells and William G. Fargo on March 18, 1852 and is headquartered in San Francisco, CA.