Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC Reduces Stake in Essent Group Ltd. $ESNT

Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC cut its stake in Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT) by 67.0% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,593 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 13,364 shares during the quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in Essent Group were worth $385,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Sivia Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Essent Group during the 2nd quarter valued at about $346,000. M&T Bank Corp acquired a new stake in Essent Group during the second quarter worth about $239,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in Essent Group by 160.0% during the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,080 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $126,000 after purchasing an additional 1,280 shares during the last quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in Essent Group during the second quarter worth about $211,000. Finally, Jump Financial LLC purchased a new position in Essent Group during the second quarter worth about $224,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.00% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Mary Lourdes Gibbons sold 4,250 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.01, for a total transaction of $276,292.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 233,336 shares in the company, valued at $15,169,173.36. This trade represents a 1.79% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO David B. Weinstock sold 5,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.51, for a total transaction of $349,305.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 35,494 shares in the company, valued at $2,254,223.94. This trade represents a 13.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 57,151 shares of company stock worth $3,717,718 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 3.60% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on ESNT. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Essent Group from $65.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, July 13th. Royal Bank Of Canada assumed coverage on Essent Group in a report on Friday, May 22nd. They issued a “sector perform” rating and a $68.00 price objective on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on Essent Group from $73.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 25th. Roth Capital reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $65.00 price objective on shares of Essent Group in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised Essent Group from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 23rd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Essent Group presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $67.71.

Essent Group Price Performance

Shares of ESNT opened at $65.42 on Wednesday. Essent Group Ltd. has a 1-year low of $55.34 and a 1-year high of $67.46. The stock has a market cap of $6.03 billion, a PE ratio of 9.32, a P/E/G ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 0.76. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $61.23 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $61.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a current ratio of 1.32 and a quick ratio of 1.32.

Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, May 8th. The financial services provider reported $1.82 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.68 by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $336.07 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $297.56 million. Essent Group had a net margin of 53.64% and a return on equity of 12.01%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.69 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Essent Group Ltd. will post 7.24 EPS for the current year.

Essent Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 1st were paid a dividend of $0.35 per share. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 1st. Essent Group’s dividend payout ratio is 19.94%.

Essent Group Company 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.