Mawer Investment Management Ltd. Has $81.70 Million Stake in Esquire Financial Holdings, Inc. $ESQ

Mawer Investment Management Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Esquire Financial Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:ESQ) by 3.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 800,465 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 23,692 shares during the quarter. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. owned about 0.09% of Esquire Financial worth $81,703,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of ESQ. Royal Bank of Canada grew its position in shares of Esquire Financial by 215.3% during the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 81,087 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,113,000 after buying an additional 55,367 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Esquire Financial by 69.5% during the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 12,367 shares of the company’s stock worth $932,000 after buying an additional 5,071 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its position in shares of Esquire Financial by 3.9% during the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 4,178 shares of the company’s stock worth $315,000 after buying an additional 156 shares during the period. Creative Planning grew its position in shares of Esquire Financial by 54.2% during the 2nd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 4,676 shares of the company’s stock worth $443,000 after buying an additional 1,643 shares during the period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in shares of Esquire Financial by 9.6% during the 2nd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 5,684 shares of the company’s stock worth $538,000 after buying an additional 499 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 54.66% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Esquire Financial

In other Esquire Financial news, Director Richard T. Powers sold 2,308 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $104.83, for a total transaction of $241,947.64. Following the sale, the director directly owned 58,233 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,104,565.39. This represents a 3.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Selig Zises sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.10, for a total transaction of $525,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 6,501 shares in the company, valued at approximately $683,255.10. This represents a 43.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 32,308 shares of company stock worth $3,430,948 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 18.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Esquire Financial from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, April 11th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Esquire Financial from a “buy (a-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Friday, May 15th. Finally, Raymond James Financial upgraded shares of Esquire Financial from a “market perform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $125.00 price objective for the company in a report on Friday, March 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $120.33.

Esquire Financial Stock Down 1.3%

Shares of ESQ stock opened at $108.45 on Tuesday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $109.31 and its 200-day simple moving average is $106.80. The firm has a market cap of $936.90 million, a PE ratio of 18.23 and a beta of 0.39. Esquire Financial Holdings, Inc. has a 12 month low of $87.54 and a 12 month high of $134.82.

Esquire Financial (NASDAQ:ESQ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 23rd. The company reported $1.58 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.52 by $0.06. Esquire Financial had a net margin of 29.96% and a return on equity of 18.30%. The business had revenue of $40.46 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $40.76 million. On average, equities analysts predict that Esquire Financial Holdings, Inc. will post 6.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Esquire Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 15th were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 15th. Esquire Financial’s dividend payout ratio is 13.45%.

About Esquire Financial

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.