Essent Group Ltd. $ESNT Shares Acquired by Quantbot Technologies LP

Quantbot Technologies LP raised its stake in Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT) by 124.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 25,784 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 14,313 shares during the period. Quantbot Technologies LP’s holdings in Essent Group were worth $1,639,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of ESNT. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Essent Group during the second quarter worth $75,596,000. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Essent Group by 78.9% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,517,859 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $92,180,000 after purchasing an additional 669,577 shares during the period. Cooke & Bieler LP increased its stake in Essent Group by 19.6% in the 3rd quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP now owns 1,938,688 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $123,223,000 after purchasing an additional 318,318 shares in the last quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd raised its holdings in Essent Group by 152.3% during the 2nd quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 455,819 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $27,682,000 after buying an additional 275,149 shares during the period. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its holdings in Essent Group by 184.8% during the 2nd quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 343,101 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $20,837,000 after buying an additional 222,613 shares during the period. 93.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have commented on the stock. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b+)” rating on shares of Essent Group in a report on Monday, December 29th. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Essent Group from $65.00 to $63.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on shares of Essent Group from $71.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Essent Group from $65.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, January 12th. Finally, Roth Mkm lifted their price target on Essent Group from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 2nd. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Essent Group has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $69.33.

Essent Group Trading Up 0.1%

Shares of NYSE:ESNT opened at $60.28 on Thursday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $62.67 and a two-hundred day moving average of $62.50. The company has a quick ratio of 1.20, a current ratio of 1.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. Essent Group Ltd. has a 12-month low of $51.61 and a 12-month high of $67.09. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.91.

Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 13th. The financial services provider reported $1.60 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.74 by ($0.14). The company had revenue of $312.40 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $312.62 million. Essent Group had a return on equity of 12.09% and a net margin of 54.72%.The company’s revenue was down .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.58 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Essent Group Ltd. will post 6.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Essent Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 23rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.35 per share. This is a boost from Essent Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 13th. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.3%. Essent Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 18.00%.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Mary Lourdes Gibbons sold 4,352 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.00, for a total transaction of $291,584.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 237,896 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,939,032. This trade represents a 1.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 2.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Essent Group Company Profile

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.