Janney Montgomery Scott LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT – Get Rating) by 10.4% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 8,132 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 939 shares during the period. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC's holdings in Essent Group were worth $284,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of ESNT. Forum Financial Management LP lifted its position in shares of Essent Group by 5.3% during the 1st quarter. Forum Financial Management LP now owns 5,589 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $230,000 after buying an additional 280 shares in the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board increased its stake in shares of Essent Group by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 41,000 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,690,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. Centiva Capital LP increased its stake in shares of Essent Group by 4.7% during the 2nd quarter. Centiva Capital LP now owns 10,441 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $406,000 after purchasing an additional 465 shares during the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Essent Group by 43.9% during the 1st quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 1,668 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $68,000 after purchasing an additional 509 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Xponance Inc. increased its stake in shares of Essent Group by 3.3% during the 2nd quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 16,975 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $660,000 after purchasing an additional 547 shares during the last quarter. 92.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
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Insiders Place Their Bets
In other Essent Group news, Director Aditya Dutt sold 6,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.23, for a total value of $235,380.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 23,023 shares of the company's stock, valued at $903,192.29. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 2.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.
Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth
Several brokerages have recently issued reports on ESNT. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price target on shares of Essent Group from $53.00 to $46.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, November 7th. BTIG Research reduced their price objective on shares of Essent Group from $54.00 to $45.00 in a research note on Friday, November 4th. TheStreet lowered shares of Essent Group from a "b-" rating to a "c+" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Essent Group from $53.00 to $50.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 10th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lowered shares of Essent Group from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $44.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Thursday, January 5th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $45.60.
Essent Group Stock Performance
NYSE ESNT opened at $42.67 on Friday. Essent Group Ltd. has a 52-week low of $34.27 and a 52-week high of $47.26. The company has a market capitalization of $4.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.35, a P/E/G ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 1.17. The company has a fifty day moving average of $39.17 and a 200-day moving average of $39.18.
Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT – Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 4th. The financial services provider reported $1.66 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.55 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $261.77 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $241.69 million. Essent Group had a net margin of 84.17% and a return on equity of 20.33%. As a group, analysts forecast that Essent Group Ltd. will post 7.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Essent Group Increases Dividend
The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 1st were paid a $0.23 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 30th. This is an increase from Essent Group's previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.16%. Essent Group's payout ratio is currently 11.53%.
Essent Group Profile
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Essent Group Ltd. is a holding company, which engages in the provision of banking services. It offers mortgage insurance, reinsurance, and risk management products. The company was founded by Mark A. Casale on July 1, 2008 and is headquartered in Hamilton, Bermuda.
Further Reading
- Get a free copy of the StockNews.com research report on Essent Group (ESNT)
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