The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Acquires New Position in Esquire Financial Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:ESQ)

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company acquired a new stake in Esquire Financial Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:ESQ) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 2,680 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $213,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Esquire Financial in the 4th quarter valued at $33,407,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Esquire Financial by 5.8% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 387,730 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,825,000 after buying an additional 21,266 shares in the last quarter. Ampfield Management L.P. boosted its holdings in shares of Esquire Financial by 10.9% in the 4th quarter. Ampfield Management L.P. now owns 251,633 shares of the company’s stock valued at $20,005,000 after buying an additional 24,773 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Esquire Financial by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 185,901 shares of the company’s stock valued at $14,783,000 after buying an additional 3,642 shares in the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Esquire Financial by 16.8% in the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 54.66% of the company’s stock.

Esquire Financial Trading Down 0.5%

Shares of NASDAQ ESQ opened at $90.81 on Monday. Esquire Financial Holdings, Inc. has a 52 week low of $44.55 and a 52 week high of $92.50. The stock has a market cap of $768.43 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.60 and a beta of 0.51. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $79.75 and its 200 day moving average price is $79.35.

Esquire Financial (NASDAQ:ESQ) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The company reported $1.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.30 by $0.03. Esquire Financial had a net margin of 31.58% and a return on equity of 19.93%. The business had revenue of $33.76 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $30.71 million. As a group, research analysts expect that Esquire Financial Holdings, Inc. will post 5.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Esquire Financial Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ESQ has been the subject of several research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of Esquire Financial from $85.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 29th. Raymond James downgraded shares of Esquire Financial from a “strong-buy” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their price target on shares of Esquire Financial from $85.00 to $91.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Esquire Financial

In other Esquire Financial news, Director Selig Zises sold 20,000 shares of Esquire Financial stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.59, for a total transaction of $1,551,800.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 35,501 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,754,522.59. The trade was a 36.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Kevin C. Waterhouse sold 3,000 shares of Esquire Financial stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.87, for a total transaction of $251,610.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 86,599 shares in the company, valued at $7,263,058.13. This represents a 3.35% 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 ninety days. Corporate insiders own 18.00% of the company’s stock.

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.