AXQ Capital LP Takes $867,000 Position in Essent Group Ltd. $ESNT

AXQ Capital LP acquired a new stake in shares of Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 13,645 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $867,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Hantz Financial Services Inc. raised its holdings in Essent Group by 1,765.2% in the 2nd quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 429 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 406 shares during the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Essent Group by 27.8% during the third quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 947 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $60,000 after purchasing an additional 206 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Essent Group by 160.0% in the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,080 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $126,000 after purchasing an additional 1,280 shares during the period. Rothschild Investment LLC increased its stake in Essent Group by 882.0% in the third quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC now owns 2,013 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $128,000 after purchasing an additional 1,808 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State of Wyoming acquired a new position in Essent Group in the third quarter valued at $132,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ESNT has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Essent Group from $65.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, January 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $70.00 target price on shares of Essent Group in a research report on Tuesday, January 6th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b+)” rating on shares of Essent Group in a report on Monday, December 29th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of Essent Group from $71.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 18th. Finally, Barclays cut their price target on shares of Essent Group from $65.00 to $63.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $69.33.

Essent Group Stock Performance

Shares of ESNT stock opened at $59.12 on Tuesday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $63.43 and its 200-day simple moving average is $62.57. Essent Group Ltd. has a 52 week low of $51.61 and a 52 week high of $67.09. The company has a current ratio of 1.20, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. The company has a market cap of $5.59 billion, a PE ratio of 8.58, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.90.

Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 13th. The financial services provider reported $1.60 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.74 by ($0.14). Essent Group had a return on equity of 12.09% and a net margin of 54.72%.The business had revenue of $312.40 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $312.62 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.58 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Essent Group Ltd. will post 6.88 EPS for the current year.

Essent Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 23rd. Investors of record on Friday, March 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.35 per share. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 13th. This is a positive change from Essent Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. Essent Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 18.00%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Essent Group news, SVP Mary Lourdes Gibbons sold 4,352 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 18th. The stock was 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 owned 237,896 shares in the company, valued at $15,939,032. This trade represents a 1.80% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 3.40% of the company’s stock.

Essent Group 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.