Esquire Financial (NASDAQ:ESQ) Sees Large Volume Increase – Here’s What Happened

Esquire Financial Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:ESQ) shares saw strong trading volume on Friday . Approximately 138,314 shares changed hands during trading, an increase of 16% from the previous session’s volume of 119,143 shares.The stock last traded at $122.91 and had previously closed at $123.66.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Esquire Financial from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (a-)” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 10th. Wall Street Zen raised Esquire Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 8th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has issued a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $120.33.

Esquire Financial Trading Down 0.2%

The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $121.82 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $114.27. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.35 and a beta of 0.35.

Esquire Financial (NASDAQ:ESQ) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 29.30% and a return on equity of 18.22%. The firm had revenue of $42.13 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $41.59 million. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Esquire Financial Holdings, Inc. will post 6.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Esquire Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Investors of record on Friday, August 14th were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 14th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.6%. Esquire Financial’s payout ratio is currently 13.20%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Esquire Financial news, Director Robert Mitzman sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $129.60, for a total value of $388,800.00. Following the sale, the director owned 139,679 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,102,398.40. This represents a 2.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 13.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in ESQ. Engineers Gate Manager LP acquired a new stake in shares of Esquire Financial in the second quarter valued at approximately $294,000. Squarepoint Ops LLC raised its position in shares of Esquire Financial by 1,235.9% during the 2nd quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 39,769 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,737,000 after purchasing an additional 36,792 shares during the last quarter. Arcus Capital Partners LLC lifted its stake in Esquire Financial by 13.7% in the 2nd quarter. Arcus Capital Partners LLC now owns 4,496 shares of the company’s stock valued at $536,000 after buying an additional 541 shares in the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System grew its holdings in Esquire Financial by 4.3% during the 2nd quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 2,085 shares of the company’s stock valued at $248,000 after buying an additional 86 shares during the last quarter. Finally, HighTower Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Esquire Financial by 1.7% during the 2nd quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 13,216 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,574,000 after buying an additional 219 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 54.66% of the company’s stock.

About Esquire Financial

Esquire Financial Holdings, Inc is the bank holding company for Esquire Bank, a federally chartered community bank headquartered in Jericho, New York. Founded in 2006, Esquire Bank focuses on serving law firms, attorneys, and other professional service businesses, along with small and middle-market companies and individual customers.

The bank offers commercial and consumer banking products, including business and personal deposit accounts, commercial real estate and commercial loans, lines of credit, mortgage loans, and treasury management services.