Essent Group Ltd. $ESNT Position Boosted by Fairman Group LLC

Fairman Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT) by 22.0% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 122,040 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 21,972 shares during the quarter. Essent Group comprises 6.1% of Fairman Group LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest holding. Fairman Group LLC’s holdings in Essent Group were worth $7,411,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Essent Group by 4.5% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,399,228 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $311,638,000 after buying an additional 230,553 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Essent Group by 1,272.6% in the first quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 970,969 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $56,044,000 after acquiring an additional 900,229 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Essent Group by 64.2% during the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 848,282 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $48,581,000 after purchasing an additional 331,535 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP bought a new position in shares of Essent Group during the first quarter valued at $41,084,000. Finally, Millennium Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Essent Group by 670.5% during the first quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 663,332 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $38,288,000 after purchasing an additional 577,245 shares in the last quarter. 93.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ESNT has been the subject of a number of research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut Essent Group from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $66.00 to $65.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 7th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Essent Group in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $60.00 price target on Essent Group and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, August 8th. DOWLING & PARTN lowered Essent Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 12th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods downgraded Essent Group from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, August 8th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $65.67.

Insider Transactions at Essent Group

In other Essent Group news, SVP Mary Lourdes Gibbons sold 4,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.00, for a total transaction of $260,000.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 243,023 shares in the company, valued at $15,796,495. This trade represents a 1.62% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO David B. Weinstock sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.33, for a total value of $158,325.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 24,865 shares in the company, valued at $1,574,700.45. The trade was a 9.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 28,190 shares of company stock valued at $1,802,316. Company insiders own 3.40% of the company’s stock.

Essent Group Trading Up 2.4%

Shares of NYSE ESNT opened at $60.70 on Wednesday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $62.40 and its 200-day moving average price is $59.21. The company has a market cap of $5.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.86, a PEG ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 0.88. Essent Group Ltd. has a fifty-two week low of $51.61 and a fifty-two week high of $65.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a current ratio of 1.24.

Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 8th. The financial services provider reported $1.93 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.68 by $0.25. The company had revenue of $319.14 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $317.46 million. Essent Group had a return on equity of 12.66% and a net margin of 56.36%.Essent Group’s quarterly revenue was up 2.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.91 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Essent Group Ltd. will post 6.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Essent Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 29th were issued a dividend of $0.31 per share. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 29th. Essent Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 18.10%.

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.