13,700 Shares in Esquire Financial Holdings, Inc. $ESQ Acquired by Swiss National Bank

Key Points

• The Swiss National Bank acquired a new stake in Esquire Financial Holdings, purchasing 13,700 shares valued at approximately $1,033,000, raising its ownership to 0.16%.
• Esquire Financial recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.175, which will be paid to stockholders on September 2nd, representing an annualized yield of 0.7%.
• Current analysts' ratings for Esquire Financial include one Buy rating and two Hold ratings, with a consensus target price of $100.50.

Swiss National Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Esquire Financial Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:ESQ - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 13,700 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,033,000. Swiss National Bank owned about 0.16% of Esquire Financial at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Versant Capital Management Inc acquired a new position in shares of Esquire Financial during the 1st quarter valued at about $26,000. Rhumbline Advisers boosted its position in shares of Esquire Financial by 3.7% during the 1st quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 11,608 shares of the company's stock valued at $875,000 after acquiring an additional 409 shares during the last quarter. XTX Topco Ltd raised its holdings in Esquire Financial by 15.1% in the 1st quarter. XTX Topco Ltd now owns 3,295 shares of the company's stock valued at $248,000 after buying an additional 433 shares during the period. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC raised its holdings in Esquire Financial by 151.0% in the 4th quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 788 shares of the company's stock valued at $63,000 after buying an additional 474 shares during the period. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG raised its holdings in Esquire Financial by 16.3% in the 4th quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 4,055 shares of the company's stock valued at $322,000 after buying an additional 568 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 54.66% of the company's stock.

Esquire Financial Stock Performance

Shares of ESQ traded down $2.20 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $98.10. 70,123 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 73,397. The company has a market cap of $837.68 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.10 and a beta of 0.57. Esquire Financial Holdings, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $57.00 and a fifty-two week high of $106.11. The stock's 50-day moving average is $97.35 and its 200-day moving average is $87.46.

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

Esquire Financial Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Selig Zises sold 17,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $99.71, for a total transaction of $1,695,070.00. Following the sale, the director owned 21,001 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,094,009.71. This represents a 44.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Joseph Melohn sold 1,326 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.00, for a total transaction of $132,600.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 136,531 shares in the company, valued at $13,653,100. This represents a 0.96% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 34,326 shares of company stock worth $3,403,470 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 18.00% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

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.