Fox Run Management L.L.C. Makes New $1.49 Million Investment in Essent Group Ltd. $ESNT

Fox Run Management L.L.C. purchased a new position in shares of Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 22,840 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,485,000.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd acquired a new position in Essent Group during the third quarter worth approximately $25,000. Measured Wealth Private Client Group LLC acquired a new position in Essent Group during the third quarter worth approximately $27,000. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Essent Group during the fourth quarter worth approximately $27,000. Hantz Financial Services Inc. increased its position in Essent Group by 45.5% during the third quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 624 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 195 shares during the period. Finally, IFP Advisors Inc increased its holdings in shares of Essent Group by 97.1% in the fourth quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 676 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $44,000 after purchasing an additional 333 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.00% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Mary Lourdes Gibbons sold 7,628 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.01, for a total transaction of $480,640.28. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 237,586 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,970,293.86. This represents a 3.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale 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, CEO Mark Casale sold 13,064 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.05, for a total value of $849,813.20. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,218,480 shares in the company, valued at $144,312,124. This represents a 0.59% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 25,814 shares of company stock worth $1,661,682 in the last ninety days. 3.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ESNT has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Royal Bank Of Canada initiated coverage on Essent Group in a report on Friday, May 22nd. They issued a “sector perform” rating and a $68.00 target price on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on Essent Group from $65.00 to $64.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 9th. UBS Group dropped their target price on Essent Group from $65.00 to $63.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 12th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised Essent Group from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $73.00 target price on the stock in a report on Thursday, June 4th. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered Essent Group from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Thursday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Essent Group presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $66.43.

Essent Group Trading Down 0.9%

NYSE:ESNT opened at $56.91 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $5.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.11, a PEG ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a current ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 1.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $60.48 and its 200-day simple moving average is $61.55. Essent Group Ltd. has a 12-month low of $55.22 and a 12-month high of $67.09.

Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT) last released its earnings results on Friday, May 8th. The financial services provider reported $1.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.68 by $0.14. Essent Group had a return on equity of 12.01% and a net margin of 53.64%.The business had revenue of $336.07 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $297.56 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.69 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Essent Group Ltd. will post 7.25 EPS for the current year.

Essent Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 10th. Investors of record on Monday, June 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.35 per share. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 1st. Essent Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 19.94%.

About Essent Group

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.