Ameritas Advisory Services LLC Takes Position in Enterprise Financial Services Corporation $EFSC

Ameritas Advisory Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Enterprise Financial Services Corporation (NASDAQ:EFSC) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 1,274 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $70,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of EFSC. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in shares of Enterprise Financial Services during the first quarter valued at $22,901,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Enterprise Financial Services by 10.8% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,314,377 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $124,375,000 after buying an additional 225,369 shares in the last quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH purchased a new position in shares of Enterprise Financial Services during the first quarter valued at $4,771,000. Nomura Holdings Inc. purchased a new position in Enterprise Financial Services in the first quarter valued at about $4,226,000. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in Enterprise Financial Services by 7.5% in the first quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 911,911 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $49,006,000 after purchasing an additional 63,972 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 72.21% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Enterprise Financial Services news, Director Michael E. Finn bought 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 4th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $54.11 per share, for a total transaction of $81,165.00. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 3,000 shares in the company, valued at $162,330. This trade represents a 100.00% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 2.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

EFSC has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Wall Street Zen upgraded Enterprise Financial Services from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, July 26th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Enterprise Financial Services in a research note on Wednesday. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $64.33.

Enterprise Financial Services Stock Performance

EFSC opened at $54.98 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $2.03 billion, a PE ratio of 10.43 and a beta of 0.88. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $58.60 and a 200-day moving average of $55.18. Enterprise Financial Services Corporation has a 52-week low of $45.22 and a 52-week high of $63.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.88.

Enterprise Financial Services (NASDAQ:EFSC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 28th. The bank reported $1.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.20 by $0.17. The company had revenue of $176.05 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $166.82 million. Enterprise Financial Services had a return on equity of 11.19% and a net margin of 21.28%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Enterprise Financial Services Corporation will post 4.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Enterprise Financial Services Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Investors of record on Monday, September 15th were paid a dividend of $0.31 per share. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 15th. This is a positive change from Enterprise Financial Services’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. Enterprise Financial Services’s dividend payout ratio is currently 23.53%.

Enterprise Financial Services Profile

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.