Esquire Financial (NASDAQ:ESQ) Releases Quarterly Earnings Results, Misses Estimates By $0.01 EPS

Esquire Financial (NASDAQ:ESQ) announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday. The company reported $1.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.38 by ($0.01), Zacks reports. Esquire Financial had a net margin of 31.38% and a return on equity of 19.53%.

Esquire Financial Price Performance

NASDAQ:ESQ opened at $82.27 on Friday. Esquire Financial has a one year low of $44.45 and a one year high of $90.00. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $79.38 and its 200 day simple moving average is $67.73. The firm has a market capitalization of $684.49 million, a P/E ratio of 16.55 and a beta of 0.73.

Esquire Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, November 15th were paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.73%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 15th. Esquire Financial’s payout ratio is currently 12.07%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on ESQ shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on shares of Esquire Financial from $72.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Raymond James lowered shares of Esquire Financial from a “strong-buy” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $75.00 price objective (up previously from $72.00) on shares of Esquire Financial in a research note on Friday, October 25th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Selig Zises sold 8,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.77, for a total value of $614,160.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 62,601 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,805,878.77. This represents a 11.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Rena Nigam bought 640 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 9th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $77.50 per share, for a total transaction of $49,600.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 1,867 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $144,692.50. This represents a 52.16 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 18.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

About Esquire Financial

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.