Principal Financial Group Inc. Sells 3,268 Shares of Enterprise Financial Services Corp (NASDAQ:EFSC)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lessened its stake in Enterprise Financial Services Corp (NASDAQ:EFSC) by 16.9% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 16,124 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 3,268 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Enterprise Financial Services were worth $827,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in EFSC. nVerses Capital LLC purchased a new position in Enterprise Financial Services in the second quarter worth $29,000. Innealta Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Enterprise Financial Services in the 2nd quarter worth about $31,000. US Bancorp DE boosted its holdings in shares of Enterprise Financial Services by 46.2% in the 3rd quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 3,873 shares of the bank’s stock worth $199,000 after purchasing an additional 1,223 shares in the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Enterprise Financial Services by 8.6% during the 1st quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 6,525 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $265,000 after purchasing an additional 515 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Semanteon Capital Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Enterprise Financial Services during the 3rd quarter valued at about $267,000. Institutional investors own 72.21% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Enterprise Financial Services

In other news, Director Richard Sanborn sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.56, for a total transaction of $5,956,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 40,950 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,438,982. This represents a 70.95 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 2.30% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Piper Sandler upped their target price on Enterprise Financial Services from $58.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd.

Enterprise Financial Services Stock Performance

Enterprise Financial Services stock opened at $60.74 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $53.63 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $47.75. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. Enterprise Financial Services Corp has a twelve month low of $36.73 and a twelve month high of $61.68. The company has a market capitalization of $2.26 billion, a PE ratio of 12.87 and a beta of 0.96.

Enterprise Financial Services (NASDAQ:EFSC) last released its earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The bank reported $1.29 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.14 by $0.15. The company had revenue of $164.89 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $157.56 million. Enterprise Financial Services had a return on equity of 10.81% and a net margin of 19.73%. Research analysts expect that Enterprise Financial Services Corp will post 4.77 EPS for the current year.

Enterprise Financial Services Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.84%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 16th. This is a positive change from Enterprise Financial Services’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. Enterprise Financial Services’s dividend payout ratio is 22.88%.

About Enterprise Financial Services

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.