Alliancebernstein L.P. Sells 3,450 Shares of Enterprise Financial Services Corp (NASDAQ:EFSC)

Alliancebernstein L.P. lowered its stake in shares of Enterprise Financial Services Corp (NASDAQ:EFSC) by 8.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 35,943 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 3,450 shares during the quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. owned about 0.10% of Enterprise Financial Services worth $2,027,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in shares of Enterprise Financial Services by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 565,314 shares of the bank’s stock worth $31,884,000 after buying an additional 7,439 shares during the last quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. lifted its position in Enterprise Financial Services by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 27,696 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,629,000 after acquiring an additional 293 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Enterprise Financial Services by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,089,008 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $117,820,000 after acquiring an additional 13,724 shares during the period. LPL Financial LLC grew its position in shares of Enterprise Financial Services by 15.1% in the fourth quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 6,963 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $393,000 after purchasing an additional 915 shares during the last quarter. Finally, KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS bought a new position in shares of Enterprise Financial Services in the fourth quarter worth about $406,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 72.21% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Enterprise Financial Services

In related news, Director James M. Havel sold 5,525 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.47, for a total value of $323,046.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 15,447 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $903,186.09. This represents a 26.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 2.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently weighed in on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated an “outperform” rating and set a $70.00 target price (up previously from $68.00) on shares of Enterprise Financial Services in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. DA Davidson increased their price objective on Enterprise Financial Services from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th.

Enterprise Financial Services Stock Up 0.7 %

EFSC stock opened at $48.05 on Thursday. Enterprise Financial Services Corp has a twelve month low of $37.28 and a twelve month high of $63.13. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The company has a market cap of $1.78 billion, a PE ratio of 9.93 and a beta of 0.84. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $55.11 and its 200 day simple moving average is $55.99.

Enterprise Financial Services (NASDAQ:EFSC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 27th. The bank reported $1.32 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.18 by $0.14. Enterprise Financial Services had a return on equity of 10.94% and a net margin of 20.12%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Enterprise Financial Services Corp will post 4.97 earnings per share for the current year.

Enterprise Financial Services Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a $0.29 dividend. This is a boost from Enterprise Financial Services’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.41%. Enterprise Financial Services’s dividend payout ratio is currently 23.97%.

About Enterprise Financial Services

Enterprise Financial Services Corp operates as the holding company for Enterprise Bank & Trust that offers banking and wealth management services to individuals and corporate customers primarily in Arizona, California, Florida, Kansas, Missouri, Nevada, and New Mexico. It provides checking, savings, money market accounts, and certificates of deposit.