Corient Private Wealth LLC Acquires New Position in Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT)

Corient Private Wealth LLC bought a new position in Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 6,015 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $326,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Cooke & Bieler LP raised its stake in Essent Group by 45.9% during the 4th quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP now owns 2,228,925 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $121,343,000 after buying an additional 700,730 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its stake in shares of Essent Group by 132.4% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 424,542 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $27,294,000 after buying an additional 241,840 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its holdings in Essent Group by 31.1% in the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 984,414 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $53,591,000 after buying an additional 233,636 shares during the period. Barclays PLC boosted its holdings in Essent Group by 154.7% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 208,927 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $13,431,000 after buying an additional 126,899 shares during the period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in Essent Group by 10.8% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,021,343 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $65,662,000 after buying an additional 99,604 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently issued reports on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their target price on Essent Group from $72.00 to $71.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $67.00 price target on shares of Essent Group in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Essent Group from $67.00 to $60.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Barclays lowered shares of Essent Group from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $69.00 to $58.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $62.57.

Essent Group Price Performance

Shares of ESNT opened at $57.34 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 1.09. Essent Group Ltd. has a 1 year low of $52.22 and a 1 year high of $65.34. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $56.93 and its 200-day simple moving average is $57.91.

Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 14th. The financial services provider reported $1.58 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.67 by ($0.09). Essent Group had a net margin of 58.69% and a return on equity of 13.35%. The business had revenue of $315.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $313.88 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.64 EPS. Essent Group’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Essent Group Ltd. will post 6.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Essent Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 24th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were given a $0.31 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.16%. This is a positive change from Essent Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. Essent Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 18.13%.

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.