Essent Group Ltd. $ESNT Shares Sold by Capital International Investors

Capital International Investors cut its holdings in Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT) by 5.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,874,398 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 114,112 shares during the period. Capital International Investors’ holdings in Essent Group were worth $121,855,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Essent Group in the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Vestcor Inc boosted its holdings in shares of Essent Group by 671.0% in the 4th quarter. Vestcor Inc now owns 8,388 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $545,000 after buying an additional 7,300 shares during the period. WINTON GROUP Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Essent Group in the 4th quarter valued at about $6,668,000. Parallel Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Essent Group by 45.0% in the 4th quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 2,683 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $174,000 after buying an additional 833 shares during the period. Finally, Vise Technologies Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Essent Group in the 4th quarter valued at about $463,000. 93.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently commented on ESNT shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of Essent Group from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $73.00 price target for the company in a report on Thursday, June 4th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Essent Group from $61.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, May 11th. UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of Essent Group from $65.00 to $63.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 12th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Essent Group from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Roth Mkm reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $65.00 price objective on shares of Essent Group in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Essent Group has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $66.43.

Essent Group Stock Down 0.9%

NYSE ESNT opened at $56.91 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a current ratio of 1.32 and a quick ratio of 1.32. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $60.48 and its 200 day simple moving average is $61.55. Essent Group Ltd. has a 12 month low of $55.22 and a 12 month high of $67.09. The company has a market capitalization of $5.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.11, a PEG ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 0.78.

Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT) last released its earnings results on Friday, May 8th. The financial services provider reported $1.82 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.68 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $336.07 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $297.56 million. Essent Group had a net margin of 53.64% and a return on equity of 12.01%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.69 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Essent Group Ltd. will post 7.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Essent Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 1st will be given a $0.35 dividend. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 1st. Essent Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 19.94%.

Insider Activity at Essent Group

In other news, SVP Mary Lourdes Gibbons sold 7,628 shares of Essent Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 20th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $14,970,293.86. This trade represents a 3.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Mark Casale sold 13,064 shares of Essent Group 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,218,480 shares in the company, valued at approximately $144,312,124. This trade represents a 0.59% 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. Over the last three months, insiders sold 25,814 shares of company stock worth $1,661,682. 3.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

About Essent Group

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.