Pacific Ridge Capital Partners LLC Decreases Stake in Esquire Financial Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:ESQ)

Pacific Ridge Capital Partners LLC cut its stake in Esquire Financial Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:ESQ) by 4.2% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 98,670 shares of the company’s stock after selling 4,277 shares during the period. Pacific Ridge Capital Partners LLC owned 1.19% of Esquire Financial worth $4,697,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Squarepoint Ops LLC lifted its position in Esquire Financial by 102.5% during the 2nd quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 14,822 shares of the company’s stock worth $706,000 after acquiring an additional 7,502 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Esquire Financial during the second quarter worth about $926,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in Esquire Financial by 9.3% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 202,847 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,655,000 after buying an additional 17,333 shares during the last quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in Esquire Financial in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $59,000. Finally, Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. purchased a new position in Esquire Financial during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $570,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 54.66% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $68.00 price target (up from $62.00) on shares of Esquire Financial in a research report on Friday, July 26th.

Esquire Financial Stock Up 1.8 %

ESQ opened at $64.38 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $59.62 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $51.76. Esquire Financial Holdings, Inc. has a 52-week low of $43.24 and a 52-week high of $64.94. The company has a market cap of $533.90 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.85 and a beta of 0.70.

Esquire Financial (NASDAQ:ESQ) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The company reported $1.25 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.21 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $33.66 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $29.99 million. Esquire Financial had a return on equity of 19.92% and a net margin of 31.36%. On average, research analysts forecast that Esquire Financial Holdings, Inc. will post 5.13 EPS for the current year.

Esquire Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 3rd. Investors of record on Thursday, August 15th were paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 15th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.93%. Esquire Financial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 12.90%.

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.