American Century Companies Inc. Buys 198,370 Shares of Essent Group Ltd. $ESNT

American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in shares of Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT) by 25.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 978,928 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 198,370 shares during the quarter. American Century Companies Inc. owned about 1.01% of Essent Group worth $62,221,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Hantz Financial Services Inc. grew its stake in shares of Essent Group by 1,765.2% in the second quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 429 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 406 shares in the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Essent Group by 27.8% in the third quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 947 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $60,000 after acquiring an additional 206 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 1,280 shares during the last quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC grew its position in shares of Essent Group by 882.0% in the 3rd quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC now owns 2,013 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $128,000 after acquiring an additional 1,808 shares during the period. Finally, State of Wyoming acquired a new position in shares of Essent Group during the 3rd quarter worth about $132,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Essent Group

In other news, SVP Mary Lourdes Gibbons sold 4,352 shares of Essent Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.00, for a total value of $291,584.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 237,896 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,939,032. The trade was a 1.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 2.90% of the company’s stock.

Essent Group Stock Up 0.1%

ESNT stock opened at $60.28 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a current ratio of 1.20 and a quick ratio of 1.20. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.75, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.91. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $62.67 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $62.50. Essent Group Ltd. has a fifty-two week low of $51.61 and a fifty-two week high of $67.09.

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

Essent Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 23rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 13th will be given a dividend of $0.35 per share. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 13th. This is a boost from Essent Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. Essent Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 18.00%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on ESNT shares. Roth Mkm upped their target price on shares of Essent Group from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Essent Group from $65.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, January 12th. Barclays dropped their price objective on 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on Essent Group from $71.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 18th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b+)” rating on shares of Essent Group in a report on Monday, December 29th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $69.33.

About Essent Group

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.