VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al Lowers Stock Holdings in Essent Group Ltd. $ESNT

VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al trimmed its holdings in shares of Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT) by 4.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 181,923 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 9,300 shares during the period. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al’s holdings in Essent Group were worth $11,827,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in ESNT. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $92,180,000 after purchasing an additional 669,577 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in Essent Group by 45.2% in 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 acquiring an additional 372,881 shares during the last quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP raised its holdings in Essent Group by 19.6% in the 3rd quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP now owns 1,938,688 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $123,223,000 after acquiring an additional 318,318 shares during the last quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd raised its holdings in Essent Group by 152.3% in the 2nd quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 455,819 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $27,682,000 after acquiring an additional 275,149 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Balyasny Asset Management L.P. raised its holdings in 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 worth $16,356,000 after acquiring an additional 242,335 shares during the last quarter. 93.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Essent Group Trading Down 1.5%

Shares of ESNT stock opened at $59.95 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $5.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.54, a PEG ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 0.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a current ratio of 1.32 and a quick ratio of 1.20. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $60.18 and a 200-day moving average price of $61.78. Essent Group Ltd. has a 1 year low of $55.22 and a 1 year high of $67.09.

Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT) last issued its earnings results on Friday, May 8th. The financial services provider reported $1.82 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.68 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $336.07 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $297.56 million. Essent Group had a net margin of 53.64% and a return on equity of 12.01%. Essent Group’s quarterly revenue was up 5.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.69 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Essent Group Ltd. will post 7.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Essent Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 1st will be paid a $0.35 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 1st. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.3%. Essent Group’s payout ratio is presently 19.94%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Essent Group

In other Essent Group news, CEO Mark Casale sold 13,064 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.05, for a total transaction of $849,813.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,218,480 shares in the company, valued at $144,312,124. This trade represents a 0.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, SVP Mary Lourdes Gibbons sold 4,250 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 28th. The shares were 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 directly owned 233,336 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,169,173.36. The trade was a 1.79% 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 quarter, insiders sold 25,814 shares of company stock worth $1,661,682. Corporate insiders own 3.60% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ESNT has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Essent Group from $61.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of Essent Group from $65.00 to $64.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. Finally, UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of Essent Group from $65.00 to $63.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 12th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Essent Group has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $68.00.

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.