Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Has $1.20 Million Position in Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT)

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund grew its holdings in Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT) by 78.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 22,831 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 10,042 shares during the quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in Essent Group were worth $1,204,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of ESNT. SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new position in Essent Group in the third quarter worth $1,634,000. Ellsworth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Essent Group during the third quarter worth $394,000. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. raised its position in shares of Essent Group by 11.8% during the third quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 93,620 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,427,000 after acquiring an additional 9,897 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates raised its position in shares of Essent Group by 12.4% during the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 13,980 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $661,000 after acquiring an additional 1,544 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its position in shares of Essent Group by 17.0% during the third quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 20,014 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $946,000 after acquiring an additional 2,906 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on ESNT shares. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on Essent Group from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded Essent Group from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $58.00 to $61.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on Essent Group from $62.00 to $64.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Essent Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 4th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $58.38.

Essent Group Trading Up 0.2 %

NYSE:ESNT opened at $53.98 on Friday. Essent Group Ltd. has a 1 year low of $40.33 and a 1 year high of $59.90. The stock has a market cap of $5.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.30, a PEG ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 1.04. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $55.01 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $52.31.

Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT) last posted its earnings results on Friday, February 9th. The financial services provider reported $1.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.59 by $0.05. Essent Group had a return on equity of 14.44% and a net margin of 62.75%. The firm had revenue of $297.30 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $286.18 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.37 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 29.3% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Essent Group Ltd. will post 6.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Essent Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 22nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 13th were given a dividend of $0.28 per share. This is a boost from Essent Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.07%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 12th. Essent Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 17.23%.

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.