VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al Purchases New Position in Essent Group Ltd. $ESNT

VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al bought a new stake in shares of Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 182,479 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $11,730,000. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al owned 0.20% of Essent Group as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Sivia Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Essent Group in the second quarter worth $346,000. M&T Bank Corp bought a new stake in shares of Essent Group during the 2nd quarter valued at $239,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Essent Group by 160.0% in the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,080 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $126,000 after buying an additional 1,280 shares during the period. Baird Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Essent Group in the second quarter worth approximately $211,000. Finally, Jump Financial LLC bought a new stake in Essent Group during the second quarter valued at about $224,000. 93.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. Wall Street Zen upgraded Essent Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 15th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Essent Group from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 10th. Roth Capital increased their price target 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 upgraded Essent Group from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Essent Group from $65.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, July 13th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Essent Group currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $71.86.

Essent Group Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:ESNT opened at $69.25 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $66.94 and a 200 day moving average of $62.42. 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 capitalization of $6.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 0.76. Essent Group Ltd. has a 52 week low of $55.34 and a 52 week high of $70.37.

Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, June 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. Essent Group had a return on equity of 11.91% and a net margin of 51.45%.The business had revenue of $362.69 million for the quarter. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Essent Group Ltd. will post 7.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Essent Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.35 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 31st. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.0%. Essent Group’s payout ratio is presently 19.53%.

Insider Activity at Essent Group

In related news, CEO Mark Casale sold 29,329 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of 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 sale 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, SVP Vijay Bhasin sold 14,175 shares of Essent Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.00, for a total transaction of $992,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 184,274 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,899,180. This trade represents a 7.14% 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. In the last three months, insiders have sold 98,848 shares of company stock worth $6,726,789. 3.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Essent Group Company 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.