Jupiter Topco LLC Purchases Shares of 37,338 Essent Group Ltd. $ESNT

Jupiter Topco LLC acquired a new position in shares of Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 37,338 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,401,000.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Hsbc Holdings PLC bought a new stake in Essent Group during the 2nd quarter valued at $2,084,000. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board bought a new position in shares of Essent Group in the second quarter worth $411,000. Legal & General Group Plc acquired a new position in shares of Essent Group during the second quarter valued at $8,187,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company acquired a new position in shares of Essent Group during the second quarter valued at $4,953,000. Finally, Winmill & CO. Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Essent Group during the second quarter valued at about $13,788,000. 93.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of Essent Group from $74.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, August 10th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Essent Group from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 23rd. Roth Capital boosted their price target on shares of Essent Group from $65.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Essent Group from $65.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, July 13th. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Essent Group from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, August 10th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $71.86.

Essent Group Trading Up 1.3%

Shares of Essent Group stock opened at $68.98 on Thursday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $66.58 and a 200-day simple moving average of $62.26. Essent Group Ltd. has a fifty-two week low of $55.34 and a fifty-two week high of $70.37. The firm has a market cap of $6.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a quick ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 1.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09.

Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, June 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.08 EPS for the quarter. Essent Group had a net margin of 51.45% and a return on equity of 11.91%. The firm had revenue of $362.69 million for the quarter. On average, equities analysts forecast that Essent Group Ltd. will post 7.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Essent Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 31st will be paid a $0.35 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 31st. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.0%. Essent Group’s payout ratio is currently 19.53%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Essent Group

In other Essent Group news, CEO Mark Casale sold 21,607 shares of Essent Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.07, for a total value of $1,514,002.49. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,039,691 shares in the company, valued at approximately $142,921,148.37. The trade was a 1.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO David B. Weinstock sold 5,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, June 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.51, for a total value of $349,305.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 35,494 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,254,223.94. This trade represents a 13.42% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 98,848 shares of company stock valued at $6,726,789 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 3.60% of the company’s stock.

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.