Wall Street Zen Downgrades Esquire Financial (NASDAQ:ESQ) to Sell

Esquire Financial (NASDAQ:ESQ) was downgraded by investment analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note issued on Saturday.

Separately, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued a “market perform” rating and issued a $110.00 target price (up previously from $102.00) on shares of Esquire Financial in a report on Friday, July 25th.

Esquire Financial Trading Down 2.0%

Esquire Financial stock opened at $95.55 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $816.00 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.63 and a beta of 0.57. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $95.80 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $86.60. Esquire Financial has a 12 month low of $56.50 and a 12 month high of $106.11.

Esquire Financial (NASDAQ:ESQ) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The company reported $1.38 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.38. The business had revenue of ($24.94) million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $28.26 million. Esquire Financial had a return on equity of 18.87% and a net margin of 30.96%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Esquire Financial will post 5.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Esquire Financial

In related news, Director Selig Zises sold 5,000 shares of Esquire Financial stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $95.38, for a total value of $476,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 29,501 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,813,805.38. The trade was a 14.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 18.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Esquire Financial

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of ESQ. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. lifted its position in Esquire Financial by 85.6% during the first quarter. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. now owns 779,889 shares of the company’s stock valued at $58,788,000 after purchasing an additional 359,677 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Esquire Financial by 3.9% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 402,688 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,355,000 after purchasing an additional 14,958 shares in the last quarter. Ampfield Management L.P. lifted its position in Esquire Financial by 11.9% during the first quarter. Ampfield Management L.P. now owns 281,502 shares of the company’s stock valued at $21,220,000 after purchasing an additional 29,869 shares in the last quarter. Copeland Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Esquire Financial by 40,107.1% during the second quarter. Copeland Capital Management LLC now owns 244,861 shares of the company’s stock valued at $23,179,000 after purchasing an additional 244,252 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GW&K Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Esquire Financial by 2.1% during the first quarter. GW&K Investment Management LLC now owns 224,941 shares of the company’s stock valued at $16,956,000 after purchasing an additional 4,545 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 54.66% of the company’s stock.

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.