Insider Selling: Esquire Financial (NASDAQ:ESQ) Director Sells 11,000 Shares of Stock

Esquire Financial Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:ESQ) Director Joseph Melohn sold 11,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $99.90, for a total transaction of $1,098,900.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 137,857 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,771,914.30. This represents a 7.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link.

Joseph Melohn also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Monday, August 25th, Joseph Melohn sold 1,326 shares of Esquire Financial stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.00, for a total transaction of $132,600.00.

Esquire Financial Stock Performance

NASDAQ ESQ opened at $100.36 on Thursday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $96.96 and its 200-day moving average price is $87.22. Esquire Financial Holdings, Inc. has a 52-week low of $57.00 and a 52-week high of $106.11. The company has a market cap of $857.07 million, a PE ratio of 18.52 and a beta of 0.57.

Esquire Financial (NASDAQ:ESQ) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The company reported $1.38 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.38. The company had revenue of ($24.94) million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $28.26 million. Esquire Financial had a net margin of 30.96% and a return on equity of 18.87%. On average, analysts forecast that Esquire Financial Holdings, Inc. will post 5.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Esquire Financial Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.175 per share. This represents a $0.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 15th. Esquire Financial’s payout ratio is presently 12.92%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ESQ. Wells Fargo & Company MN increased its holdings in Esquire Financial by 7.7% in the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 15,275 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,214,000 after buying an additional 1,095 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Esquire Financial in the fourth quarter valued at $545,000. Barclays PLC increased its holdings in Esquire Financial by 8.4% in the fourth quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 11,173 shares of the company’s stock valued at $888,000 after buying an additional 865 shares in the last quarter. Jump Financial LLC purchased a new position in Esquire Financial in the fourth quarter valued at $207,000. Finally, Tower Research Capital LLC TRC increased its holdings in Esquire Financial by 151.0% in the fourth quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 788 shares of the company’s stock valued at $63,000 after buying an additional 474 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 54.66% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on ESQ shares. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Esquire Financial from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued a “market perform” rating and set a $110.00 target price (up previously from $102.00) on shares of Esquire Financial in a report on Friday, July 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Esquire Financial currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $100.50.

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.