Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT) Shares Bought by Xponance Inc.

Xponance Inc. lifted its position in shares of Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT) by 4.3% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 14,915 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 619 shares during the quarter. Xponance Inc.’s holdings in Essent Group were worth $812,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Mainstream Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Essent Group in the fourth quarter worth approximately $25,000. Picton Mahoney Asset Management lifted its stake in shares of Essent Group by 68.8% in the 4th quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management now owns 584 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 238 shares during the last quarter. US Bancorp DE grew its holdings in shares of Essent Group by 53.3% during the 4th quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 1,125 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $61,000 after purchasing an additional 391 shares during the period. R Squared Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Essent Group during the 4th quarter worth about $63,000. Finally, Advisors Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in Essent Group by 53.9% in the 3rd quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,362 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $88,000 after buying an additional 477 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ESNT has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Essent Group from $67.00 to $60.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their target price on Essent Group from $72.00 to $71.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Barclays lowered Essent Group from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $69.00 to $58.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $67.00 target price on shares of Essent Group in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $62.57.

Essent Group Trading Up 2.1 %

NYSE:ESNT opened at $56.75 on Tuesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $56.90 and a 200 day moving average price of $58.04. Essent Group Ltd. has a 12-month low of $52.22 and a 12-month high of $65.34. The firm has a market cap of $5.89 billion, a PE ratio of 8.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 1.09.

Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 14th. The financial services provider reported $1.58 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.67 by ($0.09). The company had revenue of $315.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $313.88 million. Essent Group had a return on equity of 13.35% and a net margin of 58.69%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.64 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Essent Group Ltd. will post 6.88 EPS for the current year.

Essent Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a $0.31 dividend. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.19%. This is a positive change from Essent Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. Essent Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 18.13%.

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.