American Century Companies Inc. Buys 96,822 Shares of Enterprise Financial Services Corp (NASDAQ:EFSC)

American Century Companies Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Enterprise Financial Services Corp (NASDAQ:EFSC) by 12.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 847,939 shares of the bank’s stock after buying an additional 96,822 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc.’s holdings in Enterprise Financial Services were worth $47,824,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. acquired a new position in Enterprise Financial Services in the 3rd quarter worth about $221,000. Advisors Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Enterprise Financial Services by 169.7% during the third quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,452 shares of the bank’s stock worth $177,000 after purchasing an additional 2,172 shares during the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Enterprise Financial Services in the third quarter valued at approximately $297,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Enterprise Financial Services by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 421,874 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $21,625,000 after buying an additional 3,586 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd acquired a new stake in Enterprise Financial Services during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $562,000. 72.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

EFSC has been the subject of several recent research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $70.00 price target (up from $68.00) on shares of Enterprise Financial Services in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. DA Davidson increased their price objective on Enterprise Financial Services from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th.

Insider Activity

In other Enterprise Financial Services news, Director James M. Havel sold 5,525 shares of Enterprise Financial Services stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.47, for a total value of $323,046.75. Following the completion of 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 2.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Enterprise Financial Services Stock Performance

Shares of EFSC stock opened at $55.62 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.06 billion, a PE ratio of 11.49 and a beta of 0.97. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $58.19 and its 200 day simple moving average is $56.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.91. Enterprise Financial Services Corp has a one year low of $37.28 and a one year high of $63.13.

Enterprise Financial Services (NASDAQ:EFSC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 27th. The bank reported $1.32 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.18 by $0.14. Enterprise Financial Services had a net margin of 20.12% and a return on equity of 10.94%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Enterprise Financial Services Corp will post 4.97 earnings per share for the current year.

Enterprise Financial Services Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a $0.29 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This is a positive change from Enterprise Financial Services’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. This represents a $1.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.09%. Enterprise Financial Services’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 23.97%.

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.