Basswood Capital Management L.L.C. Cuts Position in Esquire Financial Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:ESQ)

Basswood Capital Management L.L.C. trimmed its position in Esquire Financial Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:ESQ - Free Report) by 24.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 268,727 shares of the company's stock after selling 84,798 shares during the period. Basswood Capital Management L.L.C. owned about 3.23% of Esquire Financial worth $17,524,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its position in Esquire Financial by 36.6% in the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 798 shares of the company's stock worth $52,000 after purchasing an additional 214 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its position in Esquire Financial by 14.3% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,115 shares of the company's stock worth $138,000 after purchasing an additional 264 shares during the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers boosted its position in Esquire Financial by 4.1% in the second quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 11,236 shares of the company's stock worth $535,000 after purchasing an additional 439 shares during the last quarter. Rosenthal Henry Capital Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Esquire Financial by 2.0% in the third quarter. Rosenthal Henry Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 40,800 shares of the company's stock worth $2,661,000 after buying an additional 800 shares during the period. Finally, Quantbot Technologies LP bought a new position in shares of Esquire Financial in the third quarter worth about $54,000. 54.66% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and issued a $75.00 price objective (up previously from $72.00) on shares of Esquire Financial in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods downgraded Esquire Financial from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $68.00 to $72.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd.

Esquire Financial Trading Up 0.3 %

ESQ traded up $0.22 on Monday, hitting $77.91. 51,731 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 33,635. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $68.06 and its 200-day simple moving average is $58.53. The firm has a market cap of $648.21 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.88 and a beta of 0.70. Esquire Financial Holdings, Inc. has a one year low of $44.45 and a one year high of $80.00.

Esquire Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, November 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.77%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 15th. Esquire Financial's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 12.07%.

Insider Activity at Esquire Financial

In other Esquire Financial news, Director Selig Zises sold 8,000 shares of the firm'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 transaction of $614,160.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 62,601 shares in the company, valued at $4,805,878.77. This trade represents a 11.33 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 18.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.