Esquire Financial Holdings, Inc. Plans Quarterly Dividend of $0.15 (NASDAQ:ESQ)

Esquire Financial Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:ESQ) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, April 25th, Zacks reports. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 15th will be given a dividend of 0.15 per share on Monday, June 3rd. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.22%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 14th.

Esquire Financial has a payout ratio of 10.9% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Esquire Financial to earn $5.52 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.60 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 10.9%.

Esquire Financial Stock Up 3.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ ESQ traded up $1.72 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $49.12. 63,068 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 53,569. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $47.81 and its 200-day simple moving average is $47.81. Esquire Financial has a one year low of $35.00 and a one year high of $54.80. The company has a market cap of $407.20 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.56 and a beta of 0.79.

Esquire Financial (NASDAQ:ESQ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 25th. The company reported $1.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.20 by ($0.02). Esquire Financial had a net margin of 31.50% and a return on equity of 20.73%. The business had revenue of $28.94 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $29.01 million. Equities analysts predict that Esquire Financial will post 4.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ESQ has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on shares of Esquire Financial from $58.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Raymond James started coverage on shares of Esquire Financial in a research report on Tuesday, January 16th. They set a “strong-buy” rating and a $60.00 target price for the company.

Insider Activity at Esquire Financial

In related news, Director Selig Zises sold 12,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.84, for a total transaction of $598,080.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 135,033 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,730,044.72. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 20.40% of the stock is currently 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.