Esquire Financial (ESQ) Competitors

Origin Bancorp (NASDAQ:OBK) and Esquire Financial (NASDAQ:ESQ) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their media sentiment, dividends, analyst recommendations, risk, valuation, profitability, institutional ownership and earnings.

Do insiders & institutionals have more ownership in OBK or ESQ?

54.7% of Origin Bancorp shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 54.7% of Esquire Financial shares are owned by institutional investors. 6.4% of Origin Bancorp shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 18.0% of Esquire Financial shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Is OBK or ESQ more profitable?

Esquire Financial has a net margin of 30.96% compared to Origin Bancorp's net margin of 12.34%. Esquire Financial's return on equity of 18.87% beat Origin Bancorp's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Origin Bancorp	12.34%	6.91%	0.77%
Esquire Financial	30.96%	18.87%	2.41%

Is OBK or ESQ a better dividend stock?

Origin Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.6%. Esquire Financial pays an annual dividend of $0.70 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.7%. Origin Bancorp pays out 26.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Esquire Financial pays out 12.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Esquire Financial has raised its dividend for 4 consecutive years.

Do analysts recommend OBK or ESQ?

Origin Bancorp presently has a consensus price target of $43.20, suggesting a potential upside of 17.36%. Esquire Financial has a consensus price target of $100.50, suggesting a potential upside of 2.68%. Given Origin Bancorp's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Origin Bancorp is more favorable than Esquire Financial.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Origin Bancorp	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	5 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00
Esquire Financial	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.33

Does the media refer more to OBK or ESQ?

In the previous week, Esquire Financial had 2 more articles in the media than Origin Bancorp. MarketBeat recorded 4 mentions for Esquire Financial and 2 mentions for Origin Bancorp. Origin Bancorp's average media sentiment score of 1.77 beat Esquire Financial's score of 0.92 indicating that Origin Bancorp is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Origin Bancorp	2 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive
Esquire Financial	1 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has more risk & volatility, OBK or ESQ?

Origin Bancorp has a beta of 0.81, meaning that its share price is 19% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Esquire Financial has a beta of 0.57, meaning that its share price is 43% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Which has preferable earnings & valuation, OBK or ESQ?

Origin Bancorp has higher revenue and earnings than Esquire Financial. Origin Bancorp is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Esquire Financial, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Origin Bancorp	$347.73M	3.31	$76.49M	$2.24	16.43
Esquire Financial	$138.27M	6.05	$43.66M	$5.42	18.06

Summary

Esquire Financial beats Origin Bancorp on 10 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.