JPMorgan Chase & Co. Acquires 14,521 Shares of Esquire Financial Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:ESQ)

JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in shares of Esquire Financial Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:ESQ) by 161.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 23,500 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 14,521 shares during the quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. owned approximately 0.28% of Esquire Financial worth $1,532,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Esquire Financial by 36.6% in the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 798 shares of the company’s stock valued at $52,000 after buying an additional 214 shares in the last quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP bought a new position in shares of Esquire Financial in the third quarter valued at $54,000. Copeland Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Esquire Financial in the third quarter valued at $64,000. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of Esquire Financial by 14.3% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,115 shares of the company’s stock valued at $138,000 after buying an additional 264 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new position in shares of Esquire Financial in the third quarter valued at $151,000. 54.66% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ESQ has been the subject of several analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of Esquire Financial from $72.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $75.00 price target (up previously from $72.00) on shares of Esquire Financial in a report on Friday, October 25th.

Insider Transactions at Esquire Financial

In other news, Director Selig Zises sold 8,000 shares of Esquire Financial stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.77, for a total transaction of $614,160.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 62,601 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,805,878.77. This trade represents a 11.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Joseph Melohn sold 3,000 shares of Esquire Financial stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.15, for a total value of $237,450.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 3,683 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $291,509.45. This represents a 44.89 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 18.90% of the company’s stock.

Esquire Financial Price Performance

Shares of Esquire Financial stock opened at $86.12 on Friday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $79.17 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $67.48. Esquire Financial Holdings, Inc. has a 1 year low of $44.45 and a 1 year high of $90.00. The company has a market capitalization of $716.52 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.33 and a beta of 0.73.

Esquire Financial (NASDAQ:ESQ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The company reported $1.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.38 by ($0.01). Esquire Financial had a net margin of 31.38% and a return on equity of 19.53%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Esquire Financial Holdings, Inc. will post 5.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Esquire Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th were issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.70%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 15th. Esquire Financial’s dividend payout ratio is currently 12.07%.

Esquire Financial 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.