Esquire Financial Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:ESQ) Sees Large Drop in Short Interest

Esquire Financial Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:ESQ) was the target of a significant decrease in short interest in April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 222,700 shares, a decrease of 9.5% from the March 31st total of 246,000 shares. Approximately 3.2% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 47,800 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 4.7 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently issued reports on ESQ. Raymond James started coverage on shares of Esquire Financial in a report on Tuesday, January 16th. They set a “strong-buy” rating and a $60.00 price target for the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on shares of Esquire Financial from $58.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their price target on Esquire Financial from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday.

Esquire Financial Trading Down 4.2 %

NASDAQ ESQ traded down $2.08 on Monday, hitting $47.04. 55,341 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 42,182. Esquire Financial has a 1-year low of $35.00 and a 1-year high of $54.80. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $47.79 and a two-hundred day moving average of $47.83. The company has a market cap of $390.10 million, a P/E ratio of 10.12 and a beta of 0.79.

Esquire Financial (NASDAQ:ESQ) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The company reported $1.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.20 by ($0.02). Esquire Financial had a return on equity of 20.73% and a net margin of 31.50%. The company had revenue of $28.94 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $29.01 million. Research analysts anticipate that Esquire Financial will post 4.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Esquire Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 3rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.28%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 14th. Esquire Financial’s dividend payout ratio is 12.90%.

Insider Activity at Esquire Financial

In other news, Director Selig Zises sold 12,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.84, for a total transaction of $598,080.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 135,033 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,730,044.72. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 20.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Esquire Financial

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in ESQ. SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Esquire Financial during the 4th quarter worth approximately $127,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Esquire Financial by 0.4% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 362,390 shares of the company’s stock valued at $16,558,000 after acquiring an additional 1,349 shares during the last quarter. EAM Investors LLC acquired a new stake in Esquire Financial during the 3rd quarter worth $1,328,000. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Esquire Financial by 33.5% during the 3rd quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 43,434 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,984,000 after acquiring an additional 10,895 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Copeland Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Esquire Financial in the 3rd quarter valued at $30,000. 54.66% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.