We wouldn't blame Esquire Financial Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:ESQ) shareholders if they were a little worried about the fact that Ari Kornhaber, the Founder recently netted about US$2.6m selling shares at an average price of US$128. That's a big disposal, and it decreased their holding size by 16%, which is notable but not too bad.
The insider, Selig Zises, made the biggest insider sale in the last 12 months. That single transaction was for US$3.2m worth of shares at a price of US$107 each. That means that an insider was selling shares at slightly below the current price (US$124). When an insider sells below the current price, it suggests that they considered that lower price to be fair. That makes us wonder what they think of the (higher) recent valuation. While insider selling is not a positive sign, we can't be sure if it does mean insiders think the shares are fully valued, so it's only a weak sign. It is worth noting that this sale was only 19% of Selig Zises's holding.
Esquire Financial Holdings insiders didn't buy any shares over the last year. You can see the insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last year depicted in the chart below. By clicking on the graph below, you can see the precise details of each insider transaction!
Check out our latest analysis for Esquire Financial Holdings
If you are like me, then you will not want to miss this free list of small cap stocks that are not only being bought by insiders but also have attractive valuations.
Many investors like to check how much of a company is owned by insiders. We usually like to see fairly high levels of insider ownership. It's great to see that Esquire Financial Holdings insiders own 11% of the company, worth about US$167m. I like to see this level of insider ownership, because it increases the chances that management are thinking about the best interests of shareholders.
Insiders haven't bought Esquire Financial Holdings stock in the last three months, but there was some selling. And there weren't any purchases to give us comfort, over the last year. But it is good to see that Esquire Financial Holdings is growing earnings. While insiders do own a lot of shares in the company (which is good), our analysis of their transactions doesn't make us feel confident about the company. So these insider transactions can help us build a thesis about the stock, but it's also worthwhile knowing the risks facing this company. When we did our research, we found 2 warning signs for Esquire Financial Holdings (1 is potentially serious!) that we believe deserve your full attention.
Of course Esquire Financial Holdings may not be the best stock to buy. So you may wish to see this free collection of high quality companies.
For the purposes of this article, insiders are those individuals who report their transactions to the relevant regulatory body. We currently account for open market transactions and private dispositions of direct interests only, but not derivative transactions or indirect interests.
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