Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT) Shares Acquired by Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC

Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT) by 94.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 86,819 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 42,197 shares during the period. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC’s holdings in Essent Group were worth $4,579,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Essent Group during the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust raised its holdings in shares of Essent Group by 25.5% during the second quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 1,155 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $54,000 after purchasing an additional 235 shares during the last quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP purchased a new position in shares of Essent Group during the third quarter worth $77,000. Lazard Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Essent Group by 43.9% in the first quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 1,668 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $68,000 after buying an additional 509 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Planned Solutions Inc. purchased a new position in Essent Group in the fourth quarter valued at $126,000. 93.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have weighed in on ESNT shares. StockNews.com cut shares of Essent Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut shares of Essent Group from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $58.00 to $61.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on shares of Essent Group from $62.00 to $64.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Essent Group from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, February 12th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $58.38.

Essent Group Stock Up 1.4 %

ESNT stock opened at $53.42 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.22, a P/E/G ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 1.04. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $54.86 and a 200-day simple moving average of $52.05. Essent Group Ltd. has a 52 week low of $40.33 and a 52 week high of $59.90.

Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT) last released its earnings results on Friday, February 9th. The financial services provider reported $1.64 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.59 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $297.30 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $286.18 million. Essent Group had a net margin of 62.75% and a return on equity of 14.44%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 29.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.37 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Essent Group Ltd. will post 6.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Essent Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 22nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 13th were paid a $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.10%. This is an increase from Essent Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 12th. Essent Group’s payout ratio is 17.23%.

About Essent Group

Essent Group Ltd., through its subsidiaries, provides private mortgage insurance and reinsurance for mortgages secured by residential properties located in the United States. Its mortgage insurance products include primary, pool, and master policy. The company also provides information technology maintenance and development services; customer support-related services; underwriting consulting; and contract underwriting services, as well as risk management products and title insurance and settlement services.