State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D Lowers Holdings in Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT)

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D reduced its stake in Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT) by 32.4% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 38,456 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 18,411 shares during the period. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D’s holdings in Essent Group were worth $2,161,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new stake in shares of Essent Group during the second quarter valued at approximately $47,000. Provident Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Essent Group by 2.5% in the 2nd quarter. Provident Investment Management Inc. now owns 14,060 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $790,000 after purchasing an additional 345 shares in the last quarter. Choreo LLC purchased a new position in shares of Essent Group in the second quarter worth $287,000. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Essent Group during the second quarter valued at $176,000. Finally, Paralel Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Essent Group during the second quarter valued at $2,155,000. 93.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ESNT has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Essent Group from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Essent Group from $63.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. BTIG Research lifted their target price on shares of Essent Group from $61.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of Essent Group from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $65.00 to $70.00 in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on Essent Group from $61.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $64.33.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Roy James Kasmar sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.81, for a total transaction of $294,050.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 27,140 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,596,103.40. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, Director Roy James Kasmar sold 5,000 shares of Essent Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.81, for a total transaction of $294,050.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 27,140 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,596,103.40. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Vijay Bhasin sold 11,188 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.14, for a total value of $672,846.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 199,359 shares in the company, valued at $11,989,450.26. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 2.90% of the company’s stock.

Essent Group Price Performance

Shares of Essent Group stock opened at $64.54 on Friday. Essent Group Ltd. has a 1-year low of $45.63 and a 1-year high of $65.33. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $61.74 and its 200-day simple moving average is $57.86. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.88 billion, a PE ratio of 9.76, a P/E/G ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 1.12.

Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 2nd. The financial services provider reported $1.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.68 by $0.23. Essent Group had a return on equity of 14.40% and a net margin of 61.31%. The business had revenue of $272.90 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $308.33 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.61 earnings per share. Essent Group’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Essent Group Ltd. will post 7.02 EPS for the current year.

Essent Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 30th were issued a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.74%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 30th. Essent Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 16.94%.

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.