Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT) Shares Sold by Edgestream Partners L.P.

Edgestream Partners L.P. lessened its holdings in shares of Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT) by 14.3% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 42,947 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 7,177 shares during the quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P.’s holdings in Essent Group were worth $2,413,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Renaissance Technologies LLC purchased a new position in shares of Essent Group during the 2nd quarter worth about $804,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Essent Group by 10.5% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,680,074 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $262,973,000 after acquiring an additional 445,853 shares during the last quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Essent Group by 0.4% during the second quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 50,569 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,841,000 after acquiring an additional 203 shares during the last quarter. Vest Financial LLC raised its holdings in shares of Essent Group by 29.5% in the 2nd quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 19,448 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,093,000 after purchasing an additional 4,427 shares during the period. Finally, Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new position in shares of Essent Group in the 2nd quarter valued at about $47,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.00% of the company’s stock.

Essent Group Price Performance

NYSE:ESNT opened at $64.28 on Thursday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $61.60 and a two-hundred day moving average of $57.82. The stock has a market cap of $6.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.72, a PEG 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 $65.08.

Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 2nd. The financial services provider reported $1.91 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.68 by $0.23. Essent Group had a return on equity of 14.40% and a net margin of 61.31%. The firm had revenue of $272.90 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $308.33 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.61 earnings per share. Essent Group’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Essent Group Ltd. will post 7.02 earnings per share 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 given a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.74%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 30th. Essent Group’s payout ratio is currently 16.94%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Roy James Kasmar sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.81, for a total transaction of $294,050.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 27,140 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,596,103.40. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Essent Group news, Director Roy James Kasmar sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 in the company, valued at $1,596,103.40. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Vijay Bhasin sold 11,188 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 199,359 shares in the company, valued at $11,989,450.26. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 2.90% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Essent Group Company Profile

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.