Vanguard Group Inc. Purchases 85,295 Shares of Essent Group Ltd. $ESNT

Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT) by 0.7% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 11,987,945 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 85,295 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned 0.12% of Essent Group worth $779,336,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Jackson Creek Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Essent Group in the third quarter valued at approximately $1,398,000. Tudor Investment Corp ET AL lifted its stake in Essent Group by 21.3% in the third quarter. Tudor Investment Corp ET AL now owns 437,890 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $27,832,000 after buying an additional 76,855 shares during the period. Cooke & Bieler LP lifted its stake in Essent Group by 19.6% in the third quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP now owns 1,938,688 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $123,223,000 after buying an additional 318,318 shares during the period. Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its stake in Essent Group by 16.6% in the third quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 422,825 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $26,875,000 after buying an additional 60,335 shares during the period. Finally, CWM LLC lifted its stake in Essent Group by 132.2% in the fourth quarter. CWM LLC now owns 42,396 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,756,000 after buying an additional 24,139 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 93.00% of the company’s stock.

Essent Group Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ESNT opened at $60.03 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.20, a current ratio of 1.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. Essent Group Ltd. has a twelve month low of $55.22 and a twelve month high of $67.09. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $60.07 and its 200-day moving average is $61.71. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.71, a PEG ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 0.81.

Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT) last issued its earnings results on Saturday, February 14th. The financial services provider reported $1.60 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.74 by ($0.14). Essent Group had a return on equity of 12.09% and a net margin of 54.72%.The firm had revenue of $312.40 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $312.62 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.58 earnings per share. Essent Group’s revenue for the quarter was down .8% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Essent Group Ltd. will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Essent Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 23rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 13th were given a dividend of $0.35 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 13th. This is a positive change from Essent Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.3%. Essent Group’s payout ratio is currently 20.32%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Mark Casale sold 13,064 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.05, for a total transaction of $849,813.20. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,218,480 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $144,312,124. This represents a 0.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, SVP Mary Lourdes Gibbons sold 7,628 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.01, for a total value of $480,640.28. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 237,586 shares in the company, valued at $14,970,293.86. The trade was a 3.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 25,814 shares of company stock worth $1,661,682 over the last ninety days. 3.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have issued reports on ESNT shares. Barclays dropped their price target on Essent Group from $63.00 to $61.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 6th. UBS Group dropped their price target on Essent Group from $65.00 to $63.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $70.00 price target on shares of Essent Group in a research note on Tuesday, January 6th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Essent Group from $65.00 to $64.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Essent Group currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $67.86.

Essent Group Profile

Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE: ESNT) is a publicly traded insurance holding company specializing in private mortgage insurance and mortgage reinsurance solutions. Through its primary subsidiary, Essent Guaranty, the company provides credit protection to mortgage lenders, helping mitigate the risk of borrower default on residential mortgage loans. Essent’s insurance policies enable lenders to offer low-down-payment programs, supporting homebuyers in achieving homeownership with reduced upfront equity requirements.

Beyond traditional mortgage insurance, Essent offers a suite of risk management and analytics services designed to help financial institutions monitor and manage mortgage portfolios.