420,212 Shares in Esquire Financial Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:ESQ) Purchased by Mawer Investment Management Ltd.

Mawer Investment Management Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Esquire Financial Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:ESQ) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 420,212 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $33,407,000. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. owned about 0.05% of Esquire Financial at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Quantbot Technologies LP purchased a new stake in shares of Esquire Financial during the third quarter worth $54,000. FMR LLC increased its position in Esquire Financial by 14.3% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,115 shares of the company’s stock worth $138,000 after purchasing an additional 264 shares during the last quarter. Cornerstone Investment Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Esquire Financial during the 4th quarter worth about $218,000. Delphi Management Inc. MA lifted its holdings in shares of Esquire Financial by 33.8% during the 4th quarter. Delphi Management Inc. MA now owns 2,776 shares of the company’s stock valued at $221,000 after buying an additional 701 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Meridian Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Esquire Financial in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $238,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 54.66% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ESQ has been the topic of several recent research reports. Raymond James lowered shares of Esquire Financial from a “strong-buy” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated a “market perform” rating and set a $85.00 price target (up previously from $80.00) on shares of Esquire Financial in a report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of Esquire Financial from $85.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th.

Esquire Financial Stock Performance

Shares of ESQ stock opened at $75.06 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $79.84 and its 200 day simple moving average is $74.63. Esquire Financial Holdings, Inc. has a twelve month low of $44.45 and a twelve month high of $90.18. The company has a market capitalization of $632.91 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.55 and a beta of 0.78.

Esquire Financial (NASDAQ:ESQ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The company reported $1.37 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.38 by ($0.01). Esquire Financial had a net margin of 31.58% and a return on equity of 19.93%. On average, analysts forecast that Esquire Financial Holdings, Inc. 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 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th were issued a dividend of $0.175 per share. This represents a $0.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.93%. This is a boost from Esquire Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. Esquire Financial’s dividend payout ratio is 13.57%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Richard T. Powers sold 1,427 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.99, for a total value of $124,134.73. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 58,997 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,132,149.03. This represents a 2.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Selig Zises sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.59, for a total transaction of $1,551,800.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 35,501 shares in the company, valued at $2,754,522.59. This trade represents a 36.04 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 18.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Esquire Financial Company Profile

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.