State of Alaska Department of Revenue Grows Stock Position in Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT)

State of Alaska Department of Revenue boosted its stake in shares of Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT) by 7.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 12,366 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 835 shares during the quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue’s holdings in Essent Group were worth $795,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Essent Group by 3.8% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 11,917,819 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $709,229,000 after acquiring an additional 440,385 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Essent Group by 10.5% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,680,074 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $262,973,000 after buying an additional 445,853 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Essent Group by 68.8% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 436,009 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $24,499,000 after acquiring an additional 177,700 shares during the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers boosted its stake in Essent Group by 1.0% during the 2nd quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 361,028 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $20,286,000 after purchasing an additional 3,507 shares during the period. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC raised its holdings in shares of Essent Group by 2.2% in the first quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 252,670 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $15,036,000 after buying an additional 5,376 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on ESNT shares. Barclays decreased their price target on Essent Group from $72.00 to $69.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on shares of Essent Group from $73.00 to $67.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on Essent Group from $68.00 to $67.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised Essent Group from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $65.00 to $70.00 in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Finally, BTIG Research upped their price target on shares of Essent Group from $61.00 to $64.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Essent Group presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $65.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Essent Group news, CFO David B. Weinstock sold 2,000 shares of Essent Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.59, for a total transaction of $127,180.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 25,416 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,616,203.44. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Essent Group Trading Up 5.2 %

Essent Group stock opened at $56.43 on Thursday. Essent Group Ltd. has a 52 week low of $47.56 and a 52 week high of $65.33. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $62.43 and a 200 day moving average price of $59.34. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.18, a PEG ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.12.

Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 1st. The financial services provider reported $1.65 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.73 by ($0.08). Essent Group had a return on equity of 13.81% and a net margin of 60.15%. The company had revenue of $3.17 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $316.80 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.66 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 969.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that Essent Group Ltd. will post 7.02 EPS for the current year.

Essent Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 2nd will be given a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.98%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 2nd. Essent Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.23%.

Essent Group Company Profile

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.