Esquire Financial (NASDAQ:ESQ) Issues Earnings Results, Misses Expectations By $0.01 EPS

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

Esquire Financial Stock Performance

NASDAQ:ESQ opened at $87.20 on Thursday. Esquire Financial has a 52-week low of $44.45 and a 52-week high of $90.00. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $78.90 and a 200 day moving average of $67.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $725.50 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.55 and a beta of 0.73.

Esquire Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 15th were issued a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 15th. Esquire Financial’s payout ratio is 12.07%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on ESQ. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $75.00 price objective (up from $72.00) on shares of Esquire Financial in a report on Friday, October 25th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on Esquire Financial from $72.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th.

Insider Activity

In other Esquire Financial news, Director Selig Zises sold 8,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.77, for a total value of $614,160.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 62,601 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Joseph Melohn sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.15, for a total transaction of $237,450.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 3,683 shares in the company, valued at $291,509.45. The trade was a 44.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 18.90% of the company’s stock.

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.