Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD Purchases New Shares in Esquire Financial Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:ESQ)

Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD bought a new position in Esquire Financial Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:ESQ) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 2,806 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $224,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Barclays PLC increased its stake in Esquire Financial by 322.6% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 10,308 shares of the company’s stock worth $672,000 after purchasing an additional 7,869 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC purchased a new position in shares of Esquire Financial during the fourth quarter valued at $534,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Esquire Financial during the fourth quarter valued at $545,000. American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in shares of Esquire Financial by 16.8% during the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 166,915 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,270,000 after buying an additional 23,998 shares during the period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in shares of Esquire Financial by 161.7% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 23,500 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,532,000 after buying an additional 14,521 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 54.66% of the company’s stock.

Esquire Financial Price Performance

Shares of ESQ stock opened at $90.81 on Friday. Esquire Financial Holdings, Inc. has a 1-year low of $44.55 and a 1-year high of $92.50. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $79.75 and its 200 day moving average is $79.18. The company has a market cap of $765.71 million, a P/E ratio of 17.60 and a beta of 0.51.

Esquire Financial (NASDAQ:ESQ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The company reported $1.33 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.30 by $0.03. Esquire Financial had a return on equity of 19.93% and a net margin of 31.58%. The company had revenue of $33.76 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $30.71 million. On average, analysts anticipate that Esquire Financial Holdings, Inc. will post 5.52 EPS for the current year.

Esquire Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 2nd. Investors of record on Thursday, May 15th will be given a dividend of $0.175 per share. This represents a $0.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.77%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. Esquire Financial’s payout ratio is currently 13.23%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently commented on ESQ. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on Esquire Financial from $85.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. Piper Sandler raised their price target on Esquire Financial from $85.00 to $91.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Raymond James lowered Esquire Financial from a “strong-buy” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th.

Insider Activity at Esquire Financial

In other Esquire Financial news, Director Kevin C. Waterhouse sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.87, for a total value of $251,610.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 86,599 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,263,058.13. This trade represents a 3.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Ari P. Kornhaber sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.51, for a total value of $1,670,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 104,644 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,738,820.44. This represents a 16.05% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 43,000 shares of company stock valued at $3,473,610 over the last quarter. 18.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.