Maltese Capital Management LLC Sells 7,000 Shares of Esquire Financial Holdings, Inc. $ESQ

Maltese Capital Management LLC lessened its holdings in Esquire Financial Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:ESQ) by 25.9% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 20,000 shares of the company’s stock after selling 7,000 shares during the period. Maltese Capital Management LLC owned 0.23% of Esquire Financial worth $2,041,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Royal Bank of Canada boosted its stake in shares of Esquire Financial by 215.3% in the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 81,087 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,113,000 after acquiring an additional 55,367 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Esquire Financial by 69.5% during the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 12,367 shares of the company’s stock valued at $932,000 after purchasing an additional 5,071 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its stake in Esquire Financial by 3.9% during the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 4,178 shares of the company’s stock valued at $315,000 after purchasing an additional 156 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in Esquire Financial in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $2,438,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Esquire Financial by 4.0% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 199,925 shares of the company’s stock worth $18,927,000 after purchasing an additional 7,673 shares during the period. 54.66% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on ESQ shares. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Esquire Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Esquire Financial from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (a-)” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Raymond James Financial raised shares of Esquire Financial from a “market perform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $125.00 target price for the company in a research note on Friday. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of Esquire Financial from $115.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 23rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has issued a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $120.33.

Esquire Financial Stock Performance

ESQ stock opened at $110.38 on Tuesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $107.31 and a 200 day moving average price of $103.30. Esquire Financial Holdings, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $69.14 and a fifty-two week high of $134.82. The firm has a market cap of $945.96 million, a PE ratio of 18.77 and a beta of 0.47.

Esquire Financial (NASDAQ:ESQ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 22nd. The company reported $1.55 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.56 by ($0.01). Esquire Financial had a net margin of 30.90% and a return on equity of 18.72%. The business had revenue of $39.40 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $31.93 million. On average, equities analysts predict that Esquire Financial Holdings, Inc. will post 5.52 EPS for the current year.

Esquire Financial Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 13th were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 13th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. This is an increase from Esquire Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.18. Esquire Financial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 13.61%.

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.