Sanctuary Advisors LLC Makes New Investment in Esquire Financial Holdings, Inc. $ESQ

Sanctuary Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Esquire Financial Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:ESQ) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund acquired 6,259 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $745,000. Sanctuary Advisors LLC owned approximately 0.07% of Esquire Financial as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Royal Bank of Canada raised its position in shares of Esquire Financial by 215.3% in the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 81,087 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,113,000 after acquiring an additional 55,367 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Esquire Financial by 69.5% during the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 12,367 shares of the company’s stock valued at $932,000 after purchasing an additional 5,071 shares in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its stake in Esquire Financial by 3.9% in the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 4,178 shares of the company’s stock worth $315,000 after purchasing an additional 156 shares during the period. Creative Planning grew its stake in Esquire Financial by 54.2% in the second quarter. Creative Planning now owns 4,676 shares of the company’s stock worth $443,000 after purchasing an additional 1,643 shares during the period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in Esquire Financial by 9.6% in the second quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 5,684 shares of the company’s stock worth $538,000 after purchasing an additional 499 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 54.66% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have commented on ESQ shares. Wall Street Zen raised Esquire Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 8th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Esquire Financial from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (a-)” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 13th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has given a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $120.33.

Esquire Financial Stock Performance

ESQ stock opened at $112.35 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $121.79 and a 200-day moving average price of $113.18. Esquire Financial Holdings, Inc. has a 52-week low of $92.10 and a 52-week high of $134.82. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.54 and a beta of 0.38.

Esquire Financial (NASDAQ:ESQ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The company reported $1.60 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.56 by $0.04. Esquire Financial had a return on equity of 18.22% and a net margin of 29.30%.The company had revenue of $42.13 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $41.59 million. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Esquire Financial Holdings, Inc. will post 6.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Esquire Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 14th will be paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 14th. Esquire Financial’s dividend payout ratio is currently 13.20%.

Insider Activity at Esquire Financial

In other news, Director Robert Mitzman sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $129.60, for a total transaction of $388,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 139,679 shares in the company, valued at $18,102,398.40. This trade represents a 2.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 13.90% of the company’s stock.

Esquire Financial Profile

Esquire Financial Holdings, Inc is a bank holding company whose principal subsidiary, Esquire Bank, specializes in residential mortgage lending and community banking services. Headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri, the company operates through multiple distribution channels, including retail branches, wholesale and correspondent lending divisions. Esquire Financial focuses on tailored home financing solutions while maintaining a community-oriented approach to banking.

In its mortgage lending business, Esquire Bank originates and services a range of home loan products, including government-insured mortgages (FHA, VA and USDA) as well as conventional conforming and jumbo loans.