Kennedy Capital Management LLC lowered its position in shares of Enterprise Financial Services Corp (NASDAQ:EFSC - Free Report) by 27.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 127,295 shares of the bank's stock after selling 47,181 shares during the period. Kennedy Capital Management LLC owned about 0.34% of Enterprise Financial Services worth $7,179,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Enterprise Financial Services during the fourth quarter worth about $7,556,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Enterprise Financial Services in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,072,000. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Enterprise Financial Services by 5.7% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 82,228 shares of the bank's stock valued at $4,638,000 after buying an additional 4,399 shares in the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its holdings in Enterprise Financial Services by 90.5% during the fourth quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 85,335 shares of the bank's stock worth $4,813,000 after acquiring an additional 40,549 shares during the period. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its position in Enterprise Financial Services by 3.9% in the fourth quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 125,154 shares of the bank's stock worth $7,059,000 after acquiring an additional 4,641 shares in the last quarter. 72.21% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Analyst Ratings Changes
Several equities analysts recently weighed in on EFSC shares. DA Davidson raised their price objective on Enterprise Financial Services from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $70.00 price target (up previously from $68.00) on shares of Enterprise Financial Services in a report on Wednesday, January 29th.
View Our Latest Stock Report on Enterprise Financial Services
Enterprise Financial Services Trading Up 1.8 %
Enterprise Financial Services stock traded up $0.84 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $47.73. The company had a trading volume of 189,692 shares, compared to its average volume of 174,938. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.86 and a beta of 0.84. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $55.36 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $56.04. Enterprise Financial Services Corp 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 quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 0.91.
Enterprise Financial Services (NASDAQ:EFSC - Get Free Report) last posted 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%. As a group, equities analysts expect that Enterprise Financial Services Corp will post 4.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Enterprise Financial Services Increases Dividend
The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a $0.29 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.43%. 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%.
Insider Buying and Selling
In other news, Director James M. Havel sold 5,525 shares of Enterprise Financial Services stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.47, for a total transaction of $323,046.75. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 15,447 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $903,186.09. The trade was a 26.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 2.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.
Enterprise Financial Services Company Profile
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Free Report)
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.
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