JPMorgan Chase & Co. Increases Stock Position in Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT)

JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in shares of Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT) by 10.8% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,021,343 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 99,604 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. owned about 0.96% of Essent Group worth $65,662,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Barclays PLC grew its holdings in Essent Group by 154.7% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 208,927 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $13,431,000 after purchasing an additional 126,899 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of 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 worth $262,973,000 after acquiring an additional 445,853 shares during the last quarter. Algert Global LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Essent Group during the second quarter valued at $605,000. Raymond James & Associates boosted its stake in shares of Essent Group by 163.4% during the 3rd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 44,676 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,872,000 after purchasing an additional 27,717 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Essent Group during the second quarter valued at approximately $526,000. 93.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have weighed in on ESNT. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on Essent Group from $67.00 to $60.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on shares of Essent Group from $73.00 to $67.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, November 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on Essent Group from $68.00 to $60.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Essent Group from $72.00 to $69.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on Essent Group from $73.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $64.71.

Essent Group Stock Performance

NYSE:ESNT opened at $55.01 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $55.83 and a 200 day simple moving average of $59.26. Essent Group Ltd. has a one year low of $50.65 and a one year high of $65.33. The company has a market capitalization of $5.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 1.09.

Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT) last issued its earnings results on Friday, November 1st. The financial services provider reported $1.65 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.73 by ($0.08). The company had revenue of $3.17 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $316.80 million. Essent Group had a return on equity of 13.81% and a net margin of 60.15%. Essent Group’s quarterly revenue was up 969.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.66 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Essent Group Ltd. will post 6.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Essent Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 11th. Investors of record on Monday, December 2nd were given a $0.28 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.04%. Essent Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 16.23%.

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.