Essent Group Ltd. $ESNT Stock: Vest Financial LLC Increases Holdings

Vest Financial LLC increased its stake in shares of Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT) by 93.6% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 62,822 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 30,378 shares during the quarter. Vest Financial LLC owned about 0.07% of Essent Group worth $3,638,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in shares of Essent Group during the 2nd quarter worth about $798,836,000. Renaissancere Holdings Ltd. bought a new position in Essent Group during the second quarter valued at about $107,114,521. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in Essent Group by 16.8% during the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 914,471 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $53,442,000 after acquiring an additional 131,823 shares during the period. Deutsche Bank AG bought a new position in Essent Group during the second quarter valued at about $43,068,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new position in Essent Group in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $41,041,000. 93.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Essent Group Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:ESNT opened at $66.83 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $65.98 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $63.73. Essent Group Ltd. has a fifty-two week low of $55.34 and a fifty-two week high of $70.37. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a current ratio of 1.18 and a quick ratio of 1.18.

Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, June 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. Essent Group had a return on equity of 11.91% and a net margin of 51.45%. The company had revenue of $362.69 million during the quarter. As a group, analysts predict that Essent Group Ltd. will post 7.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Essent Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 31st were issued a dividend of $0.35 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 31st. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.1%. Essent Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 19.53%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on ESNT. Barclays boosted their price objective on Essent Group from $65.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 5th. Roth Capital lifted their price target on shares of Essent Group from $65.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 10th. BTIG Research began coverage on shares of Essent Group in a research note on Tuesday, September 22nd. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Essent Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, August 15th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Essent Group from $72.00 to $66.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 12th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Essent Group has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $71.14.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Douglas Pauls sold 2,500 shares of Essent Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.70, for a total value of $174,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 30,154 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,101,733.80. The trade was a 7.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Mark Casale sold 21,607 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.07, for a total value of $1,514,002.49. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,039,691 shares in the company, valued at $142,921,148.37. The trade was a 1.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 70,146 shares of company stock valued at $4,900,365 in the last ninety days. 3.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About Essent Group

Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE: ESNT) is a Bermuda-based holding company that provides private mortgage insurance and related risk-management services in the United States. Through its operating subsidiaries, the company helps protect mortgage lenders and investors against losses when borrowers default on residential mortgage loans.

Its principal business is mortgage insurance for low-down-payment conventional residential mortgages, enabling qualified borrowers to obtain home financing with less than a 20% down payment.