Foundations Investment Advisors LLC Sells 544 Shares of Esquire Financial Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:ESQ)

Foundations Investment Advisors LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Esquire Financial Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:ESQ) by 16.5% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 2,751 shares of the company’s stock after selling 544 shares during the period. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Esquire Financial were worth $219,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of ESQ. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Esquire Financial by 36.6% during the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 798 shares of the company’s stock valued at $52,000 after acquiring an additional 214 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its holdings in Esquire Financial by 14.3% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,115 shares of the company’s stock valued at $138,000 after purchasing an additional 264 shares during the last quarter. Rosenthal Henry Capital Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Esquire Financial by 2.0% in the third quarter. Rosenthal Henry Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 40,800 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,661,000 after purchasing an additional 800 shares during the period. Quantbot Technologies LP acquired a new stake in shares of Esquire Financial in the third quarter worth $54,000. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Esquire Financial by 38.3% during the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 3,203 shares of the company’s stock worth $255,000 after buying an additional 887 shares during the period. 54.66% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have weighed in on ESQ shares. Piper Sandler boosted 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. 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, Raymond James downgraded Esquire Financial from a “strong-buy” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th.

Esquire Financial Price Performance

NASDAQ ESQ opened at $89.37 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $80.67 and its two-hundred day moving average is $68.99. Esquire Financial Holdings, Inc. 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 price-to-earnings 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 analysts’ consensus estimates 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 expect that Esquire Financial Holdings, Inc. will post 5.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Esquire Financial Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a $0.175 dividend. This represents a $0.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.78%. This is a positive change from Esquire Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. Esquire Financial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 11.63%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Esquire Financial news, Director Selig Zises sold 8,000 shares of Esquire Financial 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. The trade was a 11.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Joseph Melohn sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.15, for a total value of $237,450.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 3,683 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $291,509.45. The trade was a 44.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 18.90% of the company’s stock.

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.