Van ECK Associates Corp Purchases 515 Shares of Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT)

Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its position in Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT – Get Rating) by 15.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 3,796 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 515 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp’s holdings in Essent Group were worth $148,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in ESNT. Capital World Investors boosted its holdings in Essent Group by 10.2% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 8,781,249 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $361,875,000 after acquiring an additional 815,259 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. boosted its holdings in Essent Group by 5.4% in the third quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 15,395,154 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $536,829,000 after acquiring an additional 794,094 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Essent Group by 4.0% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,590,130 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $436,419,000 after buying an additional 411,585 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Essent Group by 7.0% during the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,375,800 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $180,327,000 after buying an additional 286,764 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Balyasny Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Essent Group during the 3rd quarter valued at $8,375,000. Institutional investors own 92.07% of the company’s stock.

Essent Group Price Performance

ESNT opened at $45.17 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $40.87 and a 200-day moving average price of $40.53. The firm has a market cap of $4.84 billion, a PE ratio of 6.66, a P/E/G ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 1.16. Essent Group Ltd. has a 1 year low of $34.27 and a 1 year high of $45.31.

Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT – Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 5th. The financial services provider reported $1.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.43 by $0.16. The firm had revenue of $256.30 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $250.57 million. Essent Group had a return on equity of 16.47% and a net margin of 73.35%. Essent Group’s quarterly revenue was down 3.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.52 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Essent Group Ltd. will post 6.17 EPS for the current year.

Essent Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 1st will be given a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.21%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 31st. Essent Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 14.75%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on ESNT. Roth Capital restated a “buy” rating on shares of Essent Group in a report on Monday, February 13th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Essent Group from $46.00 to $49.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, February 13th. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Essent Group in a report on Thursday. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Essent Group from $50.00 to $48.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 17th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $45.80.

Essent Group Company Profile

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Essent Group Ltd. is a holding company, which engages in the provision of banking services. It offers mortgage insurance, reinsurance, and risk management products. The company was founded by Mark A. Casale on July 1, 2008 and is headquartered in Hamilton, Bermuda.