GAMMA Investing LLC Trims Stake in Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT)

GAMMA Investing LLC lowered its holdings in shares of Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT) by 34.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,175 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 628 shares during the quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC’s holdings in Essent Group were worth $64,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Choreo LLC bought a new stake in shares of Essent Group during the second quarter valued at approximately $287,000. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new position in Essent Group in the second quarter valued at about $47,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in Essent Group by 10.5% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,680,074 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $262,973,000 after acquiring an additional 445,853 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in Essent Group during the second quarter valued at approximately $804,000. Finally, Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV boosted its stake in Essent Group by 13.8% in the second quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 6,694 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $376,000 after acquiring an additional 810 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.00% of the company’s stock.

Essent Group Stock Down 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE ESNT opened at $54.43 on Monday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $55.34 and a 200-day simple moving average of $59.23. Essent Group Ltd. has a 52 week low of $50.65 and a 52 week high of $65.33. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 1.11.

Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT) last posted its earnings results on Friday, November 1st. The financial services provider reported $1.65 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.73 by ($0.08). The firm had revenue of $3.17 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $316.80 million. Essent Group had a net margin of 60.15% and a return on equity of 13.81%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 969.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.66 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Essent Group Ltd. will post 6.94 EPS for the current year.

Essent Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 2nd were paid a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.06%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 2nd. Essent Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.23%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently issued reports on ESNT shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their target price on Essent Group from $75.00 to $72.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on Essent Group from $68.00 to $60.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on Essent Group from $73.00 to $67.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Barclays lowered Essent Group from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $69.00 to $58.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Essent Group from $67.00 to $60.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, December 9th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Essent Group currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $62.71.

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.