Bessemer Group Inc. Acquires 21,437 Shares of Essent Group Ltd. $ESNT

Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its stake in Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT) by 4.4% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 506,735 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 21,437 shares during the period. Bessemer Group Inc.’s holdings in Essent Group were worth $29,614,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Sivia Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Essent Group in the 2nd quarter worth $346,000. M&T Bank Corp acquired a new position in shares of Essent Group during the second quarter valued at about $239,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted 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 valued at $126,000 after buying an additional 1,280 shares during the period. Baird Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Essent Group in the second quarter valued at about $211,000. Finally, Jump Financial LLC acquired a new stake in Essent Group during the second quarter worth about $224,000. Institutional investors own 93.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently issued reports on ESNT. Weiss Ratings upgraded Essent Group from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 23rd. Royal Bank Of Canada initiated coverage on Essent Group in a research report on Friday, May 22nd. They issued a “sector perform” rating and a $68.00 price objective for the company. Roth Capital reissued a “buy” rating and set a $65.00 price objective on shares of Essent Group in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Essent Group from $65.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, July 13th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped 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. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Essent Group has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $67.71.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Mary Lourdes Gibbons sold 4,250 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the senior vice president owned 233,336 shares in the company, valued at $15,169,173.36. This trade represents a 1.79% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a 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, CEO Mark Casale sold 29,329 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,184,143 shares in the company, valued at approximately $142,733,745.05. This represents a 1.33% decrease in their position. 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. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 64,779 shares of company stock worth $4,198,358. Company insiders own 3.60% of the company’s stock.

Essent Group Price Performance

NYSE:ESNT opened at $66.67 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 company has a 50-day moving average of $61.04 and a 200-day moving average of $61.26. Essent Group Ltd. has a 52 week low of $55.34 and a 52 week high of $67.46. The company has a market capitalization of $6.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.50, a PEG ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 0.76.

Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT) last posted its earnings results on Friday, May 8th. The financial services provider reported $1.82 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.68 by $0.14. Essent Group had a net margin of 53.64% and a return on equity of 12.01%. The business had revenue of $336.07 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $297.56 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.69 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Essent Group Ltd. will post 7.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Essent Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 1st were issued a dividend of $0.35 per share. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 1st. Essent Group’s payout ratio is presently 19.94%.

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.