Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp Purchases Shares of 2,004 Esquire Financial Holdings, Inc. $ESQ

Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp acquired a new position in shares of Esquire Financial Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:ESQ) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 2,004 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $190,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in ESQ. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. lifted its stake in Esquire Financial by 85.6% during the first quarter. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. now owns 779,889 shares of the company’s stock worth $58,788,000 after purchasing an additional 359,677 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Esquire Financial by 3.9% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 402,688 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,355,000 after purchasing an additional 14,958 shares in the last quarter. Ampfield Management L.P. lifted its position in shares of Esquire Financial by 11.9% during the 1st quarter. Ampfield Management L.P. now owns 281,502 shares of the company’s stock worth $21,220,000 after buying an additional 29,869 shares during the last quarter. Copeland Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Esquire Financial by 40,107.1% in the 2nd quarter. Copeland Capital Management LLC now owns 244,861 shares of the company’s stock valued at $23,179,000 after buying an additional 244,252 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GW&K Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Esquire Financial by 2.1% in the 1st quarter. GW&K Investment Management LLC now owns 224,941 shares of the company’s stock valued at $16,956,000 after buying an additional 4,545 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 54.66% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently commented on ESQ shares. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of Esquire Financial from $113.00 to $116.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Esquire Financial from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, August 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued a “market perform” rating and issued a $110.00 target price (up from $102.00) on shares of Esquire Financial in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Esquire Financial in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $113.00.

Insider Activity at Esquire Financial

In other Esquire Financial news, Director Selig Zises sold 17,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $99.71, for a total transaction of $1,695,070.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 21,001 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,094,009.71. This represents a 44.74% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Joseph Melohn sold 1,326 shares of Esquire Financial stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.00, for a total transaction of $132,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 136,531 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,653,100. The trade was a 0.96% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 29,326 shares of company stock valued at $2,926,570 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 18.00% of the company’s stock.

Esquire Financial Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:ESQ opened at $97.04 on Monday. Esquire Financial Holdings, Inc. has a one year low of $68.90 and a one year high of $107.25. The stock has a market capitalization of $828.62 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.02 and a beta of 0.53. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $99.87 and a 200-day simple moving average of $95.76.

Esquire Financial (NASDAQ:ESQ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 23rd. The company reported $1.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.46 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $37.57 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $30.21 million. Esquire Financial had a return on equity of 19.08% and a net margin of 31.26%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Esquire Financial Holdings, Inc. will post 5.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Esquire Financial Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 14th will be issued a $0.175 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 14th. This represents a $0.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Esquire Financial’s payout ratio is presently 12.28%.

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.