Vanguard Group Inc. Has $605.32 Million Stake in Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT)

Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT) by 0.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 11,477,434 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 75,825 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 10.74% of Essent Group worth $605,320,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Essent Group in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. GAMMA Investing LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Essent Group in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust boosted its stake in Essent Group by 18.5% in the fourth quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 1,543 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $81,000 after acquiring an additional 241 shares during the last quarter. Planned Solutions Inc. bought a new position in Essent Group in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $126,000. Finally, DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale bought a new position in Essent Group in the third quarter valued at approximately $157,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.00% of the company’s stock.

Essent Group Stock Up 1.3 %

Shares of NYSE:ESNT opened at $57.36 on Tuesday. Essent Group Ltd. has a 12 month low of $44.34 and a 12 month high of $59.90. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $55.53 and its 200 day simple moving average is $54.62. The firm has a market cap of $6.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.68, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.09.

Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, May 3rd. The financial services provider reported $1.70 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.56 by $0.14. Essent Group had a net margin of 61.40% and a return on equity of 14.24%. The business had revenue of $298.40 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $298.69 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.59 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 16.4% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Essent Group Ltd. will post 6.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Essent Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 10th. Investors of record on Friday, May 31st were issued a dividend of $0.28 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 31st. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.95%. Essent Group’s payout ratio is 16.94%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Essent Group news, Director Douglas J. Pauls sold 2,500 shares of Essent Group stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.12, for a total value of $140,300.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 27,112 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,521,525.44. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 2.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on ESNT. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Essent Group from $57.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut shares of Essent Group from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $58.00 to $61.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on shares of Essent Group from $62.00 to $64.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. StockNews.com cut shares of Essent Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, March 4th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on shares of Essent Group from $64.00 to $61.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, May 6th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $59.25.

About Essent Group

Essent Group Ltd., through its subsidiaries, provides private mortgage insurance and reinsurance for mortgages secured by residential properties located in the United States. Its mortgage insurance products include primary, pool, and master policy. The company also provides information technology maintenance and development services; customer support-related services; underwriting consulting; and contract underwriting services, as well as risk management products and title insurance and settlement services.