Enterprise Financial Services Corp (NASDAQ:EFSC) Short Interest Down 14.5% in April

Enterprise Financial Services Corp (NASDAQ:EFSC) was the recipient of a significant drop in short interest during the month of April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 738,000 shares, a drop of 14.5% from the March 31st total of 863,400 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 243,400 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.0 days. Currently, 2.0% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Insider Activity

In other Enterprise Financial Services news, Director James M. Havel sold 5,525 shares of Enterprise Financial Services stock in a transaction on Friday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.47, for a total value of $323,046.75. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 15,447 shares in the company, valued at approximately $903,186.09. The trade was a 26.34 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 2.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Enterprise Financial Services

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Versant Capital Management Inc bought a new position in shares of Enterprise Financial Services during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Enterprise Financial Services in the 1st quarter valued at $28,000. USA Financial Formulas bought a new stake in shares of Enterprise Financial Services during the first quarter worth $50,000. CWM LLC boosted its stake in shares of Enterprise Financial Services by 83.6% during the first quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,252 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $67,000 after purchasing an additional 570 shares during the period. Finally, KBC Group NV bought a new position in shares of Enterprise Financial Services in the first quarter worth about $117,000. 72.21% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently commented on EFSC. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price on Enterprise Financial Services from $69.00 to $66.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. DA Davidson cut their target price on shares of Enterprise Financial Services from $70.00 to $65.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday.

Enterprise Financial Services Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ EFSC opened at $52.95 on Friday. Enterprise Financial Services has a 1-year low of $37.28 and a 1-year high of $63.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.91. The business’s 50 day moving average is $52.81 and its two-hundred day moving average is $56.07. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.94 and a beta of 0.84.

Enterprise Financial Services (NASDAQ:EFSC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 28th. The bank reported $1.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.17 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $18.48 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $162.83 million. Enterprise Financial Services had a return on equity of 10.94% and a net margin of 20.12%. As a group, research analysts expect that Enterprise Financial Services will post 4.97 EPS for the current year.

Enterprise Financial Services Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Monday, June 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 16th. This is a boost from Enterprise Financial Services’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.27%. Enterprise Financial Services’s payout ratio is currently 23.53%.

Enterprise Financial Services Company Profile

Enterprise Financial Services Corp operates as the holding company for Enterprise Bank & Trust that offers banking and wealth management services to individuals and corporate customers primarily in Arizona, California, Florida, Kansas, Missouri, Nevada, and New Mexico. It provides checking, savings, money market accounts, and certificates of deposit.