Essent Group Ltd. $ESNT Shares Bought by Signaturefd LLC

Signaturefd LLC grew its position in Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT) by 863.3% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 2,832 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,538 shares during the period. Signaturefd LLC’s holdings in Essent Group were worth $172,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of ESNT. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Essent Group by 1,272.6% in the first quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 970,969 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $56,044,000 after acquiring an additional 900,229 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP acquired a new position in shares of Essent Group in the first quarter worth about $41,084,000. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in shares of Essent Group in the first quarter worth about $34,060,000. Millennium Management LLC raised its position in shares of Essent Group by 670.5% in the first quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 663,332 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $38,288,000 after acquiring an additional 577,245 shares during the period. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Essent Group by 64.2% in the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 848,282 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $48,581,000 after acquiring an additional 331,535 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.00% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have weighed in on ESNT. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Essent Group in a research report on Saturday, September 27th. Compass Point reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Essent Group in a research note on Friday, August 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. set a $60.00 target price on shares of Essent Group in a research note on Friday, August 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $60.00 target price on shares of Essent Group and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Essent Group in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $63.67.

Insider Activity at Essent Group

In other news, SVP Mary Lourdes Gibbons sold 4,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.00, for a total value of $260,000.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 243,023 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,796,495. This represents a 1.62% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director William Spiegel sold 6,451 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.74, for a total transaction of $404,735.74. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 26,252 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,647,050.48. This represents a 19.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 28,190 shares of company stock valued at $1,802,316. 2.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Essent Group Stock Down 0.5%

Shares of NYSE ESNT opened at $61.24 on Friday. Essent Group Ltd. has a 12-month low of $51.61 and a 12-month high of $65.90. The stock has a market cap of $6.03 billion, a PE ratio of 8.94, a P/E/G ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. The company has a 50-day moving average of $61.95 and a 200 day moving average of $59.06.

Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 8th. The financial services provider reported $1.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.68 by $0.25. Essent Group had a net margin of 56.36% and a return on equity of 12.66%. The business had revenue of $319.14 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $317.46 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.91 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Essent Group Ltd. will post 6.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Essent Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 29th were paid a $0.31 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 29th. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.0%. Essent Group’s dividend payout ratio is 18.10%.

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.