Asset Management One Co. Ltd. Takes Position in Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT)

Asset Management One Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 5,447 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $290,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Essent Group in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust boosted its stake in shares of Essent Group by 25.5% in the second quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 1,155 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $54,000 after purchasing an additional 235 shares during the period. Lazard Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Essent Group by 43.9% in the first quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 1,668 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $68,000 after acquiring an additional 509 shares during the last quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP purchased a new position in Essent Group in the third quarter worth approximately $77,000. Finally, Planned Solutions Inc. purchased a new position in Essent Group in the fourth quarter worth approximately $126,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on ESNT shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of Essent Group from $62.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Essent Group from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 12th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Essent Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, March 4th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded shares of Essent Group from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $58.00 to $61.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Five 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, Essent Group presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $58.38.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Mary Lourdes Gibbons sold 5,000 shares of Essent Group stock in a transaction on Friday, January 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.00, for a total value of $275,000.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 247,969 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,638,295. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 2.90% of the company’s stock.

Essent Group Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE:ESNT opened at $53.66 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $5.73 billion, a PE ratio of 8.26, a P/E/G ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 1.04. Essent Group Ltd. has a twelve month low of $40.33 and a twelve month high of $59.90. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $54.88 and a 200-day simple moving average of $51.89.

Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 9th. The financial services provider reported $1.64 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.59 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $297.30 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $286.18 million. Essent Group had a net margin of 62.75% and a return on equity of 14.44%. The company’s revenue was up 29.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.37 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Essent Group Ltd. will post 6.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Essent Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 22nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 13th were issued a $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.09%. This is a boost from Essent Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 12th. Essent Group’s payout ratio is presently 17.23%.

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.