Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT) Shares Bought by American Century Companies Inc.

American Century Companies Inc. grew its position in shares of Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT) by 19.5% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 952,295 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 155,188 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. owned 0.88% of Essent Group worth $38,139,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Essent Group by 43.9% during the 1st quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 1,668 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $68,000 after purchasing an additional 509 shares during the last quarter. Counterpoint Mutual Funds LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Essent Group during the 1st quarter worth about $83,000. SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Essent Group during the 4th quarter worth about $137,000. Quantbot Technologies LP acquired a new stake in shares of Essent Group during the 1st quarter worth about $149,000. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its stake in shares of Essent Group by 15.7% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 3,796 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $148,000 after purchasing an additional 515 shares during the last quarter. 91.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Essent Group Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of ESNT stock opened at $50.39 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $5.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 1.15. Essent Group Ltd. has a fifty-two week low of $34.27 and a fifty-two week high of $53.66. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $48.90 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $44.69.

Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 4th. The financial services provider reported $1.61 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.51 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $260.10 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $262.07 million. Essent Group had a net margin of 66.31% and a return on equity of 14.74%. Essent Group’s revenue was up 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.16 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Essent Group Ltd. will post 6.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Essent Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 11th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 31st. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.98%. Essent Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 16.05%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Essent Group from $55.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of Essent Group from $50.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 8th. BTIG Research raised their target price on shares of Essent Group from $50.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 4th. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Essent Group in a research report on Thursday, August 17th. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Finally, Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Essent Group from $50.00 to $59.00 in a research report on Sunday, August 6th. 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, Essent Group presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $54.29.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Mary Lourdes Gibbons sold 15,000 shares of Essent Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.80, for a total transaction of $747,000.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 261,324 shares in the company, valued at $13,013,935.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, SVP Vijay Bhasin sold 2,502 shares of Essent Group stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.09, for a total value of $125,325.18. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 218,457 shares in the company, valued at $10,942,511.13. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Mary Lourdes Gibbons sold 15,000 shares of Essent Group stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.80, for a total transaction of $747,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 261,324 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,013,935.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 25,844 shares of company stock worth $1,294,776 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 3.10% of the company’s stock.

Essent Group 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.