Esquire Financial (NASDAQ:ESQ) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Esquire Financial (NASDAQ:ESQ) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research report released on Saturday.

A number of other equities analysts also recently commented on the company. Weiss Ratings upgraded Esquire Financial from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (a-)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 3rd. Raymond James Financial upgraded Esquire Financial from a “market perform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $125.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Friday. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on Esquire Financial from $115.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has issued a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Esquire Financial has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $120.33.

Esquire Financial Price Performance

ESQ stock opened at $110.38 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $945.96 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.77 and a beta of 0.47. Esquire Financial has a 1-year low of $69.14 and a 1-year high of $134.82. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $107.31 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $103.30.

Esquire Financial (NASDAQ:ESQ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 22nd. The company reported $1.55 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.56 by ($0.01). Esquire Financial had a net margin of 30.90% and a return on equity of 18.72%. The business had revenue of $39.40 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $31.93 million. As a group, analysts expect that Esquire Financial will post 5.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Esquire Financial Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 13th were paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 13th. This is an increase from Esquire Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.18. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Esquire Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 13.61%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Esquire Financial

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Sowell Financial Services LLC bought a new position in Esquire Financial in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,264,000. American Century Companies Inc. raised its stake in Esquire Financial by 6.2% during the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 238,030 shares of the company’s stock valued at $24,292,000 after acquiring an additional 13,832 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Esquire Financial by 4.0% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 199,925 shares of the company’s stock valued at $18,927,000 after acquiring an additional 7,673 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in Esquire Financial by 45.1% during the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 37,387 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,816,000 after acquiring an additional 11,628 shares during the period. Finally, Corient Private Wealth LLC boosted its position in Esquire Financial by 70.5% during the 2nd quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 16,038 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,518,000 after acquiring an additional 6,629 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 54.66% of the company’s stock.

Esquire Financial Company Profile

Esquire Financial Holdings, Inc is a bank holding company whose principal subsidiary, Esquire Bank, specializes in residential mortgage lending and community banking services. Headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri, the company operates through multiple distribution channels, including retail branches, wholesale and correspondent lending divisions. Esquire Financial focuses on tailored home financing solutions while maintaining a community-oriented approach to banking.

In its mortgage lending business, Esquire Bank originates and services a range of home loan products, including government-insured mortgages (FHA, VA and USDA) as well as conventional conforming and jumbo loans.