Esquire Financial (ESQ) Competitors

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

Do analysts rate ESQ or OBK?

Esquire Financial currently has a consensus price target of $100.50, indicating a potential downside of 4.46%. Origin Bancorp has a consensus price target of $43.20, indicating a potential upside of 21.33%. Given Origin Bancorp's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Origin Bancorp is more favorable than Esquire Financial.

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

Do institutionals & insiders believe in ESQ or OBK?

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

Is ESQ or OBK a better dividend stock?

Esquire Financial pays an annual dividend of $0.70 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.7%. Origin Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.7%. Esquire Financial pays out 12.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Origin Bancorp pays out 26.8% 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.

Does the media prefer ESQ or OBK?

In the previous week, Origin Bancorp had 2 more articles in the media than Esquire Financial. MarketBeat recorded 3 mentions for Origin Bancorp and 1 mentions for Esquire Financial. Origin Bancorp's average media sentiment score of 0.90 beat Esquire Financial's score of 0.00 indicating that Origin Bancorp is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

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

Is ESQ or OBK 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
Esquire Financial	30.96%	18.87%	2.41%
Origin Bancorp	12.34%	6.91%	0.77%

Which has better valuation & earnings, ESQ or OBK?

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
Esquire Financial	$138.27M	6.50	$43.66M	$5.42	19.41
Origin Bancorp	$347.73M	3.20	$76.49M	$2.24	15.90

Which has more volatility and risk, ESQ or OBK?

Esquire Financial has a beta of 0.57, indicating that its share price is 43% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Origin Bancorp has a beta of 0.85, indicating that its share price is 15% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

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