Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC Has $1.07 Million Holdings in Essent Group Ltd. $ESNT

Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC cut its position in Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT) by 54.2% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 16,385 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 19,428 shares during the period. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC’s holdings in Essent Group were worth $1,065,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in ESNT. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position in Essent Group by 78.9% during 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 in the last quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Essent Group in the 4th quarter valued at about $27,983,000. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in shares of Essent Group by 45.2% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,198,447 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $76,173,000 after purchasing an additional 372,881 shares during the last quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd increased its stake in shares of Essent Group by 152.3% during the 2nd quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 455,819 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $27,682,000 after purchasing an additional 275,149 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Balyasny Asset Management L.P. raised its holdings in shares of Essent Group by 1,616.6% in the 3rd quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 257,325 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $16,356,000 after purchasing an additional 242,335 shares during the period. 93.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Mark Casale sold 13,064 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.05, for a total transaction of $849,813.20. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,218,480 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $144,312,124. This trade represents a 0.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, SVP Mary Lourdes Gibbons sold 4,250 shares of Essent Group stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 28th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $15,169,173.36. This trade represents a 1.79% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 25,814 shares of company stock valued at $1,661,682 in the last three months. Insiders own 3.60% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ESNT has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Barclays upped their price objective on Essent Group from $61.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Royal Bank Of Canada initiated coverage on Essent Group in a report on Friday, May 22nd. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $68.00 price target for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Essent Group from $65.00 to $64.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of Essent Group from $65.00 to $63.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 12th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Essent Group in a research report on Friday, May 22nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $67.86.

Essent Group Trading Down 1.8%

Shares of NYSE:ESNT opened at $58.38 on Friday. Essent Group Ltd. has a 12-month low of $55.22 and a 12-month high of $67.09. The business has a 50 day moving average of $60.60 and a 200-day moving average of $61.77. The company has a quick ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 1.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. The stock has a market cap of $5.38 billion, a PE ratio of 8.32, a P/E/G ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 0.81.

Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT) last announced its earnings results on Friday, May 8th. The financial services provider reported $1.82 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.68 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $336.07 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $297.56 million. Essent Group had a return on equity of 12.01% and a net margin of 53.64%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.69 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Essent Group Ltd. will post 7.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Essent Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 1st will be given a dividend of $0.35 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 1st. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.4%. Essent Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.