Headlands Technologies LLC Purchases New Position in Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT)

Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new stake in Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 845 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $47,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Advisors Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Essent Group during the first quarter worth about $32,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in Essent Group by 49.7% during the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,187 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $67,000 after acquiring an additional 394 shares in the last quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in Essent Group during the 2nd quarter valued at $176,000. QRG Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Essent Group during the fourth quarter valued at $200,000. Finally, HBK Sorce Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Essent Group during the first quarter worth about $215,000. 93.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Essent Group from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Essent Group from $57.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 22nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of Essent Group from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $65.00 to $70.00 in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Essent Group from $63.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Essent Group from $61.00 to $67.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Essent Group currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $64.33.

Essent Group Trading Up 1.0 %

Essent Group stock opened at $64.33 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $6.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 1.12. Essent Group Ltd. has a 1-year low of $45.63 and a 1-year high of $64.69. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $61.26 and a 200 day simple moving average of $57.70.

Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 2nd. The financial services provider reported $1.91 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.68 by $0.23. The firm had revenue of $272.90 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $308.33 million. Essent Group had a return on equity of 14.40% and a net margin of 61.31%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 9.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.61 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Essent Group Ltd. will post 7.02 EPS for the current year.

Essent Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 30th were paid a $0.28 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 30th. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.74%. Essent Group’s payout ratio is 16.94%.

Insider Transactions at Essent Group

In related news, SVP Vijay Bhasin sold 11,188 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.14, for a total transaction of $672,846.32. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 199,359 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,989,450.26. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, SVP Vijay Bhasin sold 11,188 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.14, for a total value of $672,846.32. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 199,359 shares in the company, valued at $11,989,450.26. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Roy James Kasmar sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.81, for a total transaction of $294,050.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 27,140 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,596,103.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 2.90% of the company’s stock.

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.