Richard T. Powers Sells 1,427 Shares of Esquire Financial Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:ESQ) Stock

Esquire Financial Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:ESQ) Director Richard T. Powers sold 1,427 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.99, for a total transaction of $124,134.73. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 58,997 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,132,149.03. The trade was a 2.36 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link.

Esquire Financial Trading Down 2.4 %

NASDAQ ESQ traded down $2.11 during trading on Friday, reaching $85.89. 23,107 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 105,504. Esquire Financial Holdings, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $44.45 and a fifty-two week high of $90.18. The firm has a market capitalization of $714.69 million, a PE ratio of 16.64 and a beta of 0.73. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $81.40 and its 200-day simple moving average is $69.85.

Esquire Financial (NASDAQ:ESQ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 23rd. The company reported $1.37 EPS 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%. Equities analysts forecast that Esquire Financial Holdings, Inc. will post 5.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Esquire Financial Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a dividend of $0.175 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This is a positive change from Esquire Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. This represents a $0.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.81%. Esquire Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 13.57%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Esquire Financial

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in ESQ. Barclays PLC lifted its holdings in Esquire Financial by 322.6% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 10,308 shares of the company’s stock worth $672,000 after purchasing an additional 7,869 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Esquire Financial by 3.4% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 182,259 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,887,000 after purchasing an additional 6,025 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in Esquire Financial by 79.8% in the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 36,058 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,351,000 after purchasing an additional 16,007 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. acquired a new stake in Esquire Financial in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $252,000. Finally, State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Esquire Financial by 8.5% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 144,344 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,413,000 after purchasing an additional 11,345 shares during the last quarter. 54.66% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ESQ has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Raymond James cut Esquire Financial from a “strong-buy” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and set a $85.00 target price (up from $80.00) on shares of Esquire Financial in a report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their target price on Esquire Financial from $85.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a 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.