Esquire Financial (NASDAQ:ESQ) Receives Market Perform Rating from Keefe, Bruyette & Woods

Key Points

• Esquire Financial's stock received a "market perform" rating from Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, with a revised price target of $110.00, indicating a potential upside of 6.61% from the current price.
• Meanwhile, Wall Street Zen downgraded Esquire Financial from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating on July 18th.
• Esquire Financial reported $1.38 earnings per share for the latest quarter, meeting consensus estimates, but reported revenues of $24.94 million, falling short of expectations.
• Insider transactions included notable sales, with Director Kevin C. Waterhouse and EVP Ari P. Kornhaber reducing their stakes in the company.

Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed their market perform rating on shares of Esquire Financial (NASDAQ:ESQ - Free Report) in a research note issued to investors on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a $110.00 price objective on the stock, up from their prior price objective of $102.00.

Separately, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Esquire Financial from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Friday, July 18th.

Esquire Financial Price Performance

ESQ stock traded up $0.10 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $97.34. The company had a trading volume of 23,752 shares, compared to its average volume of 93,928. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $94.18 and a 200 day moving average of $85.57. Esquire Financial has a 12 month low of $54.49 and a 12 month high of $106.11. The company has a market capitalization of $823.46 million, a PE ratio of 17.96 and a beta of 0.52.

Esquire Financial (NASDAQ:ESQ - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 24th. The company reported $1.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts' consensus estimates of $1.38. Esquire Financial had a net margin of 30.96% and a return on equity of 19.33%. The firm had revenue of ($24.94) million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $28.26 million. Analysts anticipate that Esquire Financial will post 5.52 EPS for the current year.

Esquire Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 15th will be paid a $0.175 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 15th. This represents a $0.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.72%. Esquire Financial's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 12.92%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Esquire Financial

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of ESQ. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Esquire Financial by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 20,453 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,626,000 after acquiring an additional 467 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Esquire Financial during the fourth quarter worth $545,000. American Century Companies Inc. lifted 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 worth $13,270,000 after buying an additional 23,998 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Esquire Financial by 5.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 387,730 shares of the company's stock worth $30,825,000 after buying an additional 21,266 shares during the period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in shares of Esquire Financial by 16.3% during the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 27,340 shares of the company's stock worth $2,174,000 after buying an additional 3,840 shares during the period. 54.66% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.