Cooke & Bieler LP Grows Stock Position in Essent Group Ltd. $ESNT

Cooke & Bieler LP increased its holdings in Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT) by 19.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 1,938,688 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 318,318 shares during the period. Cooke & Bieler LP owned approximately 1.97% of Essent Group worth $123,223,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Essent Group in the 2nd quarter valued at $75,596,000. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Essent Group by 78.9% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,517,859 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $92,180,000 after buying an additional 669,577 shares during the last quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd boosted its stake in Essent Group by 152.3% during the second quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 455,819 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $27,682,000 after buying an additional 275,149 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its position in shares of Essent Group by 184.8% during the second quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 343,101 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $20,837,000 after acquiring an additional 222,613 shares during the last quarter. Finally, VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al acquired a new stake in shares of Essent Group during the second quarter valued at about $12,712,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.00% of the company’s stock.

Essent Group Trading Down 2.3%

ESNT opened at $60.87 on Monday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $63.27 and a 200 day moving average price of $61.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a current ratio of 1.68 and a quick ratio of 1.68. Essent Group Ltd. has a 12 month low of $51.61 and a 12 month high of $67.09. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.86, a PEG ratio of 3.86 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 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.75 by ($0.08). Essent Group had a net margin of 55.63% and a return on equity of 12.40%. The company had revenue of $311.83 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $316.84 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.65 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Essent Group Ltd. will post 6.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Essent Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 1st were given a $0.31 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was 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%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Mary Lourdes Gibbons sold 4,352 shares of Essent Group stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.00, for a total transaction of $291,584.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 237,896 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,939,032. The trade was a 1.80% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Roy James Kasmar sold 3,250 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.44, for a total transaction of $199,680.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 23,573 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,448,325.12. The trade was a 12.12% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 3.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Essent Group from $65.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, January 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “neutral” rating and set a $70.00 price target on shares of Essent Group in a research report on Tuesday, January 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on Essent Group from $71.00 to $73.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 18th. Barclays decreased their target price on Essent Group from $66.00 to $65.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 6th. Finally, Roth Mkm raised their target price on Essent Group from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 2nd. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Essent Group presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $69.29.

Essent Group Company Profile

Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE: ESNT) is a publicly traded insurance holding company specializing in private mortgage insurance and mortgage reinsurance solutions. Through its primary subsidiary, Essent Guaranty, the company provides credit protection to mortgage lenders, helping mitigate the risk of borrower default on residential mortgage loans. Essent’s insurance policies enable lenders to offer low-down-payment programs, supporting homebuyers in achieving homeownership with reduced upfront equity requirements.

Beyond traditional mortgage insurance, Essent offers a suite of risk management and analytics services designed to help financial institutions monitor and manage mortgage portfolios.