Esquire Financial Holdings, Inc. $ESQ Shares Sold by Boston Partners

Key Points

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Boston Partners lowered its holdings in Esquire Financial Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:ESQ - Free Report) by 30.6% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 6,489 shares of the company's stock after selling 2,858 shares during the quarter. Boston Partners owned 0.08% of Esquire Financial worth $489,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Versant Capital Management Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Esquire Financial in the first quarter worth $26,000. USA Financial Formulas acquired a new stake in shares of Esquire Financial in the first quarter worth $51,000. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC increased its stake in shares of Esquire Financial by 151.0% in the fourth quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 788 shares of the company's stock worth $63,000 after acquiring an additional 474 shares during the period. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS acquired a new stake in shares of Esquire Financial in the first quarter worth $106,000. Finally, Jump Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Esquire Financial in the fourth quarter worth $207,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 54.66% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ESQ has been the topic of several analyst reports. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Esquire Financial from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Saturday, August 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated a "market perform" rating and set a $110.00 price target (up previously from $102.00) on shares of Esquire Financial in a research report on Friday, July 25th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $100.50.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Selig Zises sold 5,000 shares of Esquire Financial stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $95.38, for a total value of $476,900.00. Following the sale, the director owned 29,501 shares in the company, valued at $2,813,805.38. This trade represents a 14.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 18.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Esquire Financial Stock Up 2.1%

Shares of NASDAQ ESQ traded up $2.03 during trading on Friday, hitting $99.44. The company had a trading volume of 116,461 shares, compared to its average volume of 92,329. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $96.19 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $86.87. Esquire Financial Holdings, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $57.00 and a fifty-two week high of $106.11. The firm has a market capitalization of $849.22 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.35 and a beta of 0.57.

Esquire Financial (NASDAQ:ESQ - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The company reported $1.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.38. Esquire Financial had a net margin of 30.96% and a return on equity of 18.87%. The business had revenue of ($24.94) million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $28.26 million. On average, analysts anticipate that Esquire Financial Holdings, Inc. will post 5.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Esquire Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 15th will be given a $0.175 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 15th. This represents a $0.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Esquire Financial's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 12.92%.

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.