66,773 Shares in Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT) Bought by EMG Holdings L.P.

EMG Holdings L.P. acquired a new stake in shares of Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 66,773 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $3,635,000. Essent Group comprises about 2.2% of EMG Holdings L.P.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 8th largest position.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in Essent Group by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 47,469 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,584,000 after acquiring an additional 287 shares in the last quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Essent Group in the 4th quarter valued at $312,000. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Essent Group in the fourth quarter worth $69,364,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in Essent Group by 7.4% during the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,097,180 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $59,730,000 after buying an additional 75,837 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Essent Group by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 12,367,101 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $673,265,000 after buying an additional 432,034 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on ESNT. Barclays lowered Essent Group from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $69.00 to $58.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price target on Essent Group from $72.00 to $71.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $67.00 price objective on shares of Essent Group in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Essent Group from $67.00 to $60.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Essent Group currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $62.57.

Essent Group Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of Essent Group stock opened at $58.26 on Wednesday. Essent Group Ltd. has a 1 year low of $52.22 and a 1 year high of $65.34. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $56.94 and its 200-day simple moving average is $57.84. The company has a market cap of $6.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.52, a PEG ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 1.09.

Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 14th. The financial services provider reported $1.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.67 by ($0.09). The company had revenue of $315.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $313.88 million. Essent Group had a return on equity of 13.35% and a net margin of 58.69%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.64 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Essent Group Ltd. will post 6.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Essent Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a $0.31 dividend. This is a boost from Essent Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.13%. Essent Group’s dividend payout ratio is 18.13%.

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.