Raymond James & Associates Purchases 1,589 Shares of Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT)

Raymond James & Associates grew its holdings in shares of Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT) by 11.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 15,569 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,589 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates’ holdings in Essent Group were worth $821,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in ESNT. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Essent Group by 0.9% in the third quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 51,292 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,455,000 after purchasing an additional 437 shares in the last quarter. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. bought a new stake in Essent Group in the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Pearl River Capital LLC raised its stake in Essent Group by 8.0% during the 3rd quarter. Pearl River Capital LLC now owns 8,832 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $418,000 after buying an additional 653 shares during the period. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC boosted its holdings in Essent Group by 3.6% in the third quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 19,221 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $909,000 after acquiring an additional 667 shares in the last quarter. Finally, California Public Employees Retirement System grew its stake in Essent Group by 0.3% in the third quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 227,375 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $10,753,000 after acquiring an additional 695 shares during the period. 93.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Essent Group Trading Up 0.9 %

NYSE:ESNT opened at $53.92 on Tuesday. Essent Group Ltd. has a 12 month low of $40.33 and a 12 month high of $59.90. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $54.88 and a 200-day moving average price of $52.17. The stock has a market cap of $5.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.30, a P/E/G ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 1.04.

Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 9th. The financial services provider reported $1.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.59 by $0.05. Essent Group had a net margin of 62.75% and a return on equity of 14.44%. The company had revenue of $297.30 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $286.18 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.37 EPS. Essent Group’s quarterly revenue was up 29.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Essent Group Ltd. will post 6.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Essent Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 22nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 13th were issued a dividend of $0.28 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 12th. This is an increase from Essent Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.08%. Essent Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 17.23%.

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.