Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Invests $1.62 Million in Essent Group Ltd. $ESNT

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new position in Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 27,700 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,619,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd bought a new stake in Essent Group in the 3rd quarter worth $25,000. Measured Wealth Private Client Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Essent Group during the third quarter valued at about $27,000. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Essent Group during the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. IFP Advisors Inc raised its stake in shares of Essent Group by 97.1% during the fourth quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 676 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $44,000 after acquiring an additional 333 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Horizon Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Essent Group by 192.8% during the fourth quarter. First Horizon Corp now owns 893 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $58,000 after purchasing an additional 588 shares during the period. 93.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Mary Lourdes Gibbons sold 7,628 shares of Essent Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.01, for a total transaction of $480,640.28. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 237,586 shares in the company, valued at $14,970,293.86. The trade was a 3.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO David B. Weinstock sold 5,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.51, for a total value of $349,305.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 35,494 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,254,223.94. The trade was a 13.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 31,314 shares of company stock worth $2,010,987 in the last quarter. 3.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently issued reports on the company. Royal Bank Of Canada assumed coverage on Essent Group in a research note on Friday, May 22nd. They issued a “sector perform” rating and a $68.00 target price on the stock. UBS Group dropped their price objective on Essent Group from $65.00 to $63.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 12th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Essent Group from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on Essent Group from $73.00 to $74.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 25th. Finally, Roth Mkm restated a “buy” rating and set a $65.00 target price on shares of Essent Group in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Essent Group has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $66.57.

Essent Group Trading Up 0.2%

Shares of ESNT opened at $64.41 on Thursday. Essent Group Ltd. has a 1-year low of $55.22 and a 1-year high of $67.09. The company has a current ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 1.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $60.56 and its 200-day moving average price is $61.31. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.18, a PEG ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 0.76.

Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 8th. The financial services provider reported $1.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.68 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $336.07 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $297.56 million. Essent Group had a net margin of 53.64% and a return on equity of 12.01%. Essent Group’s revenue was up 5.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.69 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Essent Group Ltd. will post 7.25 EPS for the current year.

Essent Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 1st were given a $0.35 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 1st. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.2%. Essent Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.