Esquire Financial (NASDAQ:ESQ) Stock Price Down 7.4% – Time to Sell?

Shares of Esquire Financial Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:ESQ) dropped 7.4% on Friday . The company traded as low as $107.41 and last traded at $106.2050. Approximately 94,574 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 3% from the average daily volume of 97,278 shares. The stock had previously closed at $114.65.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ESQ has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Raymond James Financial raised Esquire Financial from a “market perform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $125.00 price target for the company in a report on Friday, March 13th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on Esquire Financial from $115.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 23rd. Wall Street Zen cut Esquire Financial from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, April 11th. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut Esquire Financial from a “buy (a-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $120.33.

Esquire Financial Trading Down 6.4%

The company has a 50 day moving average price of $107.84 and a 200 day moving average price of $105.24. The company has a market capitalization of $927.08 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.24 and a beta of 0.45.

Esquire Financial (NASDAQ:ESQ) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The company reported $1.58 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.58. The company had revenue of $40.46 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $40.76 million. Esquire Financial had a return on equity of 18.28% and a net margin of 30.90%. Equities analysts predict that Esquire Financial Holdings, Inc. will post 6.35 earnings per share for the current year.

Esquire Financial Increases Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Esquire Financial

In related news, Director Selig Zises sold 5,000 shares of Esquire Financial stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.10, for a total transaction of $525,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 6,501 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $683,255.10. The trade was a 43.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Richard T. Powers sold 2,308 shares of Esquire Financial stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $104.83, for a total value of $241,947.64. Following the sale, the director directly owned 58,233 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,104,565.39. This trade represents a 3.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 32,308 shares of company stock valued at $3,430,948 over the last three months. Insiders own 18.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Esquire Financial

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in ESQ. Royal Bank of Canada grew its stake in shares of Esquire Financial by 215.3% during the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 81,087 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,113,000 after purchasing an additional 55,367 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Esquire Financial by 69.5% during the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 12,367 shares of the company’s stock worth $932,000 after purchasing an additional 5,071 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Esquire Financial by 3.9% during the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 4,178 shares of the company’s stock worth $315,000 after purchasing an additional 156 shares during the period. Creative Planning grew its stake in shares of Esquire Financial by 54.2% during the second quarter. Creative Planning now owns 4,676 shares of the company’s stock worth $443,000 after purchasing an additional 1,643 shares during the period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in shares of Esquire Financial by 9.6% during the second quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 5,684 shares of the company’s stock worth $538,000 after purchasing an additional 499 shares during the period. 54.66% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.