SG Americas Securities LLC Acquires New Stake in Esquire Financial Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:ESQ)

SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new position in shares of Esquire Financial Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:ESQ) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 2,544 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $127,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BlackRock Inc. lifted its stake in Esquire Financial by 24.9% during the second quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 501,728 shares of the company’s stock worth $22,949,000 after purchasing an additional 100,177 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Esquire Financial by 0.4% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 362,390 shares of the company’s stock worth $16,558,000 after purchasing an additional 1,349 shares during the last quarter. Maltese Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Esquire Financial by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Maltese Capital Management LLC now owns 168,900 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,307,000 after purchasing an additional 900 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Esquire Financial by 13.6% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 159,296 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,286,000 after purchasing an additional 19,016 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted its stake in Esquire Financial by 2.1% during the second quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 148,887 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,810,000 after purchasing an additional 3,062 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 54.66% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Esquire Financial news, Director Selig Zises sold 12,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.84, for a total transaction of $598,080.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 135,033 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,730,044.72. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 18.50% of the company’s stock.

Esquire Financial Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:ESQ opened at $44.60 on Thursday. Esquire Financial Holdings, Inc. has a 1 year low of $35.00 and a 1 year high of $54.80. The company has a market cap of $369.29 million, a PE ratio of 9.07 and a beta of 0.79. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $48.05 and its 200 day moving average is $47.79.

Esquire Financial (NASDAQ:ESQ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The company reported $1.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.20 by ($0.02). Esquire Financial had a net margin of 33.72% and a return on equity of 20.76%. The business had revenue of $28.94 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $29.01 million. Analysts expect that Esquire Financial Holdings, Inc. will post 4.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Esquire Financial Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 15th were issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. This is an increase from Esquire Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 14th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.35%. Esquire Financial’s dividend payout ratio is 12.20%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ESQ has been the topic of several analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on Esquire Financial from $58.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. Raymond James initiated coverage on Esquire Financial in a report on Tuesday, January 16th. They issued a “strong-buy” rating and a $60.00 price objective on the 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.