Esquire Financial Holdings declared a regular quarterly dividend of 20 cents a share on its common stock, payable Dec. 1 to holders of record on Nov. 13, the company said in an Oct. 29 release. The payment comes as the Jericho, New York, bank holding company absorbs the Chicago bank it bought on Aug. 1.
The release does not call the 20 cents a raise, and the company’s third-quarter report shows why. Esquire paid 20 cents a share in the third quarter, 60 cents across the first nine months of 2026, and 17.5 cents in the same quarter a year earlier. The amount held steady through the quarter in which the acquisition closed.
For anyone who owns the stock, the dates decide who is paid. The 20 cents goes to whoever is listed as a shareholder at the close of Nov. 13, and it is paid into the brokerage or retirement account that holds the shares on Dec. 1. Owners of 100 shares would receive $20 before any taxes, and the company has not announced anything beyond this one payment.
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What did buying the Chicago bank do to Esquire’s size?
Esquire completed its purchase of Signature Bancorporation, the parent of Signature Bank of Chicago, on Aug. 1, and the Oct. 27 earnings release puts the price at $466.1 million. Loans stood at $3.43 billion on Sept. 30, up $1.52 billion from June 30, and $1.38 billion of that came with Signature. Deposits reached $3.98 billion, up $1.80 billion, including $1.65 billion from the Chicago bank.
Total assets came to $4.81 billion, which is $2.62 billion more than a year earlier, and $1.90 billion of the gain is Signature. The company says the combination was about 10 percent accretive to tangible book value, that it has seen no material client attrition so far, and that the two banks’ core computer systems are due to be merged in April 2027.
Andrew Sagliocca, Esquire’s vice chairman, chief executive and president, said in the release: “Most importantly, the merger unites two highly talented management teams.” Chairman Tony Coelho said the company is “positioned to pursue long-term growth while preserving access to key decision-makers.”
Did the quarter’s profit cover the 20 cents?
The 20-cent rate is 2.5 cents above the 17.5 cents Esquire paid in the third quarter of 2025, a gain of about 14 percent over twelve months, according to the company’s quarterly report. Dividends declared for the first nine months of 2026 added up to 60 cents a share, which is the figure the 20-cent payment extends into the fourth quarter.
Net income was $17.5 million in the third quarter, up from $14.1 million a year earlier and $13.0 million in the second quarter of 2026, according to the release. That figure is after $8.9 million of pretax merger expenses. Net income for the first nine months of the year totaled $42.7 million.
Earnings per share tell a slightly different story. Diluted earnings were $1.57 a share, compared with $1.62 a year ago and $1.49 in the second quarter, so per-share earnings slipped from last year even as total profit rose. Excluding merger costs and a one-time tax benefit, the company reports adjusted diluted earnings of $2.12 a share. Measured against the $1.57, the 20-cent dividend works out to about 13 percent of the quarter’s per-share earnings. For nine months, diluted earnings were $4.48 a share.
What kind of bank is behind the payment?
Esquire’s subsidiary, Esquire Bank, N.A., is a full-service commercial bank that serves the litigation industry and small businesses nationally, along with commercial and retail customers in the New York, Chicago and Los Angeles areas, the company says in its dividend release. It also offers payment processing for litigation clients and small business owners.
The bank lists five branch offices, in Jericho, Los Angeles and Chicago, plus an administrative office in Boca Raton, Florida. Chicago is now home to both a branch of Esquire’s own and the deposits and loans of the Signature bank, which together account for $1.38 billion of loans and $1.65 billion of deposits added since the deal closed.
What does a 20-cent payment do for money that has to stay safe?
A dividend is voted on one quarter at a time, and this release covers the Dec. 1 payment only. If the board kept the amount at 20 cents for four straight quarters, a year would pay 80 cents a share, and nine months of 2026 have paid 60 cents. Those are payments from a company’s profits, and they sit alongside a share price that moves every day.
Cash is a different job. Money a household cannot afford to see shrink belongs in places where the balance does not swing with a stock price, and a dividend that arrives on Dec. 1 is cash like any other once it lands. Where it waits, and what it earns while it waits, is a separate choice from whether to own the shares.
Where will the Dec. 1 Esquire payment wait until it is needed?
A dividend such as Esquire’s 20 cents lands as cash in whatever account holds the shares, and cash left in a near-zero account earns almost nothing while it waits. The payment itself is voted one quarter at a time, so the safe part of a household’s money cannot depend on it.
Make Your Savings Pay You is an 11-page guide to the insured places that pay more than a near-zero account. It shows how to keep every dollar insured, even above $250,000 at one bank, and covers high-yield savings for the cushion you might need this year and Treasury bills from $100, free of state and local income tax.
Get the savings guide for where a December dividend can sit insured and earning →
This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.
Warren Cohen is a finance writer based in Phoenix, Arizona, covering personal finance topics including credit, banking, and beginner investing. He earned his degree in business administration from Arizona State University and began his career working in consumer finance, where he gained direct experience with lending and credit systems. He now writes for personal finance websites and fintech platforms, focusing on clear, practical content that helps readers make informed financial decisions.
