Essent Group Ltd. $ESNT Shares Purchased by Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership

Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its position in shares of Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT) by 184.8% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 343,101 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 222,613 shares during the quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership owned approximately 0.34% of Essent Group worth $20,837,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in ESNT. Natixis Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Essent Group by 23.3% in the 1st quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 13,254 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $765,000 after buying an additional 2,504 shares in the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its position in Essent Group by 5.7% during the first quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 3,721 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $215,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG lifted its holdings in shares of Essent Group by 5.6% in the first quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 349,677 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $20,183,000 after purchasing an additional 18,480 shares in the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Essent Group in the first quarter valued at approximately $99,000. Finally, Citigroup Inc. grew its position in shares of Essent Group by 1.1% in the first quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 115,461 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,664,000 after purchasing an additional 1,271 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Essent Group

In related news, SVP Vijay Bhasin sold 11,479 shares of the firm’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 $746,135.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 196,922 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,799,930. This trade represents a 5.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Mary Lourdes Gibbons sold 4,000 shares of the business’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 transaction of $260,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 243,023 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,796,495. The trade was a 1.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 21,229 shares of company stock valued at $1,364,140. Insiders own 3.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Barclays lifted their price objective on Essent Group from $59.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a “cautious” rating in a research report on Monday, October 6th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b+)” rating on shares of Essent Group in a research report on Monday, December 1st. DOWLING & PARTN downgraded Essent Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 12th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered Essent Group from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $66.00 to $65.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 7th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $65.67.

Essent Group Trading Up 0.6%

Shares of Essent Group stock opened at $61.90 on Monday. Essent Group Ltd. has a fifty-two week low of $51.61 and a fifty-two week high of $65.90. The business’s fifty day moving average is $61.16 and its two-hundred day moving average is $60.47. The company has a quick ratio of 1.68, a current ratio of 1.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. The firm has a market cap of $5.98 billion, a PE ratio of 9.01, a P/E/G ratio of 4.11 and a beta of 0.90.

Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 7th. The financial services provider reported $1.67 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.75 by ($0.08). Essent Group had a net margin of 55.63% and a return on equity of 12.40%. The business had revenue of $311.83 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $316.84 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.65 EPS. Essent Group’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Essent Group Ltd. will post 6.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Essent Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.31 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 1st. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.0%. Essent Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 18.05%.

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, as well as risk management products and title insurance and settlement services.