Enterprise Financial Services Corp (NASDAQ:EFSC) Short Interest Down 15.2% in February

Enterprise Financial Services Corp (NASDAQ:EFSC) saw a significant drop in short interest in February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 382,200 shares, a drop of 15.2% from the February 13th total of 450,800 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 160,300 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.4 days. Approximately 1.1% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the stock. DA Davidson increased their target price on shares of Enterprise Financial Services from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $70.00 price target (up from $68.00) on shares of Enterprise Financial Services in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Enterprise Financial Services

In other Enterprise Financial Services news, Director James M. Havel sold 5,525 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.47, for a total value of $323,046.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 15,447 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $903,186.09. This trade represents a 26.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 2.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Enterprise Financial Services

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of EFSC. PL Capital Advisors LLC boosted its position in Enterprise Financial Services by 5,540.0% during the fourth quarter. PL Capital Advisors LLC now owns 39,695,956 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,238,852,000 after acquiring an additional 38,992,127 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in Enterprise Financial Services by 16.6% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,545,092 shares of the bank’s stock worth $181,721,000 after acquiring an additional 505,552 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Enterprise Financial Services during the fourth quarter worth approximately $7,556,000. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its position in Enterprise Financial Services by 28.3% during the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 566,780 shares of the bank’s stock worth $31,966,000 after acquiring an additional 125,150 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Foundry Partners LLC boosted its position in Enterprise Financial Services by 1,856.8% during the third quarter. Foundry Partners LLC now owns 130,869 shares of the bank’s stock worth $6,708,000 after acquiring an additional 124,181 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 72.21% of the company’s stock.

Enterprise Financial Services Stock Up 0.8 %

EFSC stock opened at $56.91 on Thursday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $58.19 and its 200-day simple moving average is $56.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.10 billion, a PE ratio of 11.76 and a beta of 0.97. Enterprise Financial Services has a 12 month low of $37.28 and a 12 month high of $63.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.91.

Enterprise Financial Services (NASDAQ:EFSC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The bank reported $1.32 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.18 by $0.14. Enterprise Financial Services had a net margin of 20.12% and a return on equity of 10.94%. Equities analysts expect that Enterprise Financial Services will post 4.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Enterprise Financial Services Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.29 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.04%. This is a positive change from Enterprise Financial Services’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. Enterprise Financial Services’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 23.97%.

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.