Quantbot Technologies LP Buys New Shares in Esquire Financial Holdings, Inc. $ESQ

Quantbot Technologies LP purchased a new stake in Esquire Financial Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:ESQ) during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund purchased 10,331 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,231,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vise Technologies Inc. bought a new position in shares of Esquire Financial in the second quarter valued at $682,000. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in shares of Esquire Financial in the second quarter valued at approximately $71,659,000. Deutsche Bank AG bought a new position in Esquire Financial in the 2nd quarter valued at $897,000. Horizon Investment Services LLC bought a new stake in Esquire Financial in the second quarter worth about $4,229,000. Finally, Global Retirement Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Esquire Financial during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Institutional investors own 54.66% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Esquire Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, August 8th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Esquire Financial from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (a-)” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 13th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has given a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Esquire Financial presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $120.33.

Esquire Financial Price Performance

Esquire Financial stock opened at $112.86 on Wednesday. Esquire Financial Holdings, Inc. has a one year low of $92.10 and a one year high of $134.82. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $121.79 and a 200-day moving average price of $113.20. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.62 and a beta of 0.38.

Esquire Financial (NASDAQ:ESQ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 23rd. The company reported $1.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.56 by $0.04. Esquire Financial had a return on equity of 18.22% and a net margin of 29.30%.The company had revenue of $42.13 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $41.59 million. Sell-side analysts expect that Esquire Financial Holdings, Inc. will post 6.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Esquire Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 14th will be issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 14th. Esquire Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 13.20%.

Insider Activity at Esquire Financial

In other news, Director Robert Mitzman sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $129.60, for a total value of $388,800.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 139,679 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,102,398.40. This represents a 2.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 13.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Esquire Financial Company Profile

Esquire Financial Holdings, Inc is a bank holding company whose principal subsidiary, Esquire Bank, specializes in residential mortgage lending and community banking services. Headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri, the company operates through multiple distribution channels, including retail branches, wholesale and correspondent lending divisions. Esquire Financial focuses on tailored home financing solutions while maintaining a community-oriented approach to banking.

In its mortgage lending business, Esquire Bank originates and services a range of home loan products, including government-insured mortgages (FHA, VA and USDA) as well as conventional conforming and jumbo loans.