Russell Investments Group Ltd. Increases Stock Position in Enterprise Financial Services Corp (NASDAQ:EFSC)

Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Enterprise Financial Services Corp (NASDAQ:EFSC) by 90.5% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 85,335 shares of the bank’s stock after buying an additional 40,549 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd.’s holdings in Enterprise Financial Services were worth $4,813,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Versant Capital Management Inc bought a new stake in Enterprise Financial Services in the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of Enterprise Financial Services by 34.2% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,560 shares of the bank’s stock worth $131,000 after buying an additional 653 shares during the last quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System bought a new stake in shares of Enterprise Financial Services in the fourth quarter worth $191,000. HighTower Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Enterprise Financial Services during the fourth quarter valued at $212,000. Finally, US Bancorp DE lifted its holdings in Enterprise Financial Services by 5.7% in the fourth quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 4,095 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $231,000 after acquiring an additional 222 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 72.21% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated an “outperform” rating and set a $70.00 price target (up from $68.00) on shares of Enterprise Financial Services in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. DA Davidson boosted their target price on shares of Enterprise Financial Services from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director James M. Havel sold 5,525 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.47, for a total value of $323,046.75. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 15,447 shares in the company, valued at $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 is available at this hyperlink. 2.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Enterprise Financial Services Stock Performance

NASDAQ:EFSC opened at $46.89 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $55.64 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $56.10. 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 Corp has a 52-week low of $37.28 and a 52-week high of $63.13. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.73 billion, a PE ratio of 9.69 and a beta of 0.84.

Enterprise Financial Services (NASDAQ:EFSC) last released its earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The bank reported $1.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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%. Analysts forecast that Enterprise Financial Services Corp will post 4.97 EPS for the current year.

Enterprise Financial Services Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a dividend of $0.29 per share. This is a boost from Enterprise Financial Services’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.47%. Enterprise Financial Services’s payout ratio is 23.97%.

Enterprise Financial Services Profile

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.