Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC Cuts Stock Holdings in Essent Group Ltd. $ESNT

Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC reduced its stake in Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT) by 67.0% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 6,593 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 13,364 shares during the quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in Essent Group were worth $385,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund grew its stake in Essent Group by 1.6% during the 1st quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 19,586 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,145,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Strs Ohio raised its position in Essent Group by 16.3% in the 1st quarter. Strs Ohio now owns 11,400 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $666,000 after purchasing an additional 1,600 shares in the last quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Essent Group by 111.8% in the 1st quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 879 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $51,000 after buying an additional 464 shares during the period. Groesbeck Investment Management Corp NJ boosted its stake in shares of Essent Group by 8.1% in the 1st quarter. Groesbeck Investment Management Corp NJ now owns 11,960 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $699,000 after buying an additional 900 shares during the period. Finally, Pictet Asset Management Holding SA boosted its stake in shares of Essent Group by 8.2% in the 1st quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 409,309 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $23,920,000 after buying an additional 30,924 shares during the period. 93.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ESNT has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Royal Bank Of Canada initiated coverage on shares of Essent Group in a research note on Friday, May 22nd. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $68.00 target price on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on shares of Essent Group from $73.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, June 25th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Essent Group from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Finally, Roth Capital restated a “buy” rating and issued a $65.00 price objective on shares of Essent Group in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Essent Group presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $67.71.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Mark Casale sold 29,329 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.35, for a total value of $1,916,650.15. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,184,143 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $142,733,745.05. This trade represents a 1.33% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO David B. Weinstock sold 5,500 shares of Essent Group stock in a transaction on Friday, June 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.51, for a total transaction of $349,305.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 35,494 shares in the company, valued at $2,254,223.94. This represents a 13.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 57,151 shares of company stock valued at $3,717,718. 3.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Essent Group Trading Down 1.1%

NYSE:ESNT opened at $65.42 on Wednesday. Essent Group Ltd. has a 1 year low of $55.34 and a 1 year high of $67.46. The stock has a market cap of $6.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.32, a P/E/G ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a quick ratio of 1.32 and a current ratio of 1.32. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $61.23 and a 200-day simple moving average of $61.24.

Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT) last issued its earnings results on Friday, May 8th. The financial services provider reported $1.82 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.68 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $336.07 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $297.56 million. Essent Group had a return on equity of 12.01% and a net margin of 53.64%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.69 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Essent Group Ltd. will post 7.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Essent Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 1st were issued a dividend of $0.35 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 1st. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.1%. Essent Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 19.94%.

Essent Group 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.