California Public Employees Retirement System Acquires 12,076 Shares of Essent Group Ltd. $ESNT

California Public Employees Retirement System raised its stake in shares of Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT) by 6.1% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 211,062 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 12,076 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System owned 0.22% of Essent Group worth $12,334,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of ESNT. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Essent Group by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 11,987,945 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $779,336,000 after purchasing an additional 85,295 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Essent Group by 4.4% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,076,950 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $206,628,000 after purchasing an additional 129,672 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Essent Group during the fourth quarter valued at $155,516,000. Cooke & Bieler LP increased its stake in shares of Essent Group by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP now owns 1,952,006 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $126,900,000 after buying an additional 13,318 shares during the period. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Essent Group by 43.7% in the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,864,067 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $121,183,000 after acquiring an additional 567,103 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have issued reports on ESNT. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price 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. Royal Bank Of Canada assumed coverage on Essent Group in a research note on Friday, May 22nd. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $68.00 price objective for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Essent Group from $65.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, July 13th. 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, Barclays increased their price objective on Essent Group from $61.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, May 11th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $67.71.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Essent Group news, CEO Mark Casale sold 29,329 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.35, for a total transaction of $1,916,650.15. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,184,143 shares in the company, valued at $142,733,745.05. The trade was a 1.33% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, SVP Mary Lourdes Gibbons sold 4,250 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.01, for a total transaction of $276,292.50. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 233,336 shares in the company, valued at $15,169,173.36. The trade was a 1.79% 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. Insiders sold 57,151 shares of company stock worth $3,717,718 over the last 90 days. 3.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Essent Group Trading Up 1.9%

NYSE ESNT opened at $65.64 on Friday. 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 firm has a market cap of $6.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.35, a PEG ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 0.76. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $61.52 and a 200-day simple moving average of $61.27. Essent Group Ltd. has a one year low of $55.34 and a one year high of $67.46.

Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 8th. The financial services provider reported $1.82 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.68 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $336.07 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $297.56 million. Essent Group had a net margin of 53.64% and a return on equity of 12.01%. The firm’s revenue was up 5.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.69 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Essent Group Ltd. will post 7.24 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Essent Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 10th. Investors of record on Monday, June 1st were paid a $0.35 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 1st. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.1%. Essent Group’s 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.