Legal & General Group Plc Purchases Shares of 127,365 Essent Group Ltd. $ESNT

Legal & General Group Plc purchased a new stake in Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 127,365 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $8,187,000. Legal & General Group Plc owned about 0.14% of Essent Group at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of ESNT. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in Essent Group in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $798,836,000. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Essent Group during the 4th quarter valued at $155,516,000. Renaissancere Holdings Ltd. purchased a new position in Essent Group during the second quarter worth $107,114,521. Deutsche Bank AG purchased a new position in Essent Group during the second quarter worth $43,068,000. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Essent Group by 78.9% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,517,859 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $92,180,000 after acquiring an additional 669,577 shares during the last quarter. 93.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on ESNT. Barclays upped their price objective on Essent Group from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of Essent Group from $74.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, August 10th. Roth Capital upped their target price on shares of Essent Group from $65.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” 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. Finally, 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 report on Monday, July 13th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Essent Group currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $71.86.

Insider Transactions at Essent Group

In other Essent Group news, CEO Mark Casale sold 29,329 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.35, for a total transaction of $1,916,650.15. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,184,143 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $142,733,745.05. The trade was a 1.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Douglas J. Pauls sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.70, for a total value of $174,250.00. Following the sale, the director owned 30,154 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,101,733.80. This represents a 7.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 98,848 shares of company stock worth $6,726,789 over the last ninety days. 3.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Essent Group Stock Performance

NYSE:ESNT opened at $68.14 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 1.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. The company has a market cap of $6.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.50, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.76. Essent Group Ltd. has a fifty-two week low of $55.34 and a fifty-two week high of $70.37. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $66.44 and its two-hundred day moving average is $62.23.

Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, June 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The company had revenue of $362.69 million during the quarter. Essent Group had a net margin of 51.45% and a return on equity of 11.91%. Analysts expect that Essent Group Ltd. will post 7.6 EPS for the current year.

Essent Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Investors of record on Monday, August 31st will be issued a $0.35 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 31st. 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 19.53%.

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.