Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS Increases Stock Holdings in Essent Group Ltd. $ESNT

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS raised its holdings in Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT) by 3.8% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 26,053 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 950 shares during the quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS’s holdings in Essent Group were worth $1,582,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in Essent Group by 7.7% during the 1st quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 69,879 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,033,000 after purchasing an additional 5,001 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC increased its holdings in Essent Group by 1,036.3% in the 1st quarter. CWM LLC now owns 7,613 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $439,000 after buying an additional 6,943 shares during the period. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new position in Essent Group during the 1st quarter worth approximately $841,000. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH lifted its stake in Essent Group by 2.1% during the 1st quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH now owns 40,905 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,361,000 after acquiring an additional 854 shares during the period. Finally, KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS lifted its stake in Essent Group by 9.2% during the 1st quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS now owns 41,700 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,407,000 after acquiring an additional 3,500 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Essent Group news, SVP Mary Lourdes Gibbons sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 243,023 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,796,495. This represents a 1.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Vijay Bhasin sold 11,479 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.00, for a total value of $746,135.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 196,922 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,799,930. This trade represents a 5.51% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 17,979 shares of company stock worth $1,164,460 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 2.90% of the company’s stock.

Essent Group Stock Performance

NYSE ESNT opened at $62.54 on Friday. Essent Group Ltd. has a twelve month low of $51.61 and a twelve month high of $65.90. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.10, a PEG ratio of 4.09 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a current ratio of 1.68, a quick ratio of 1.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $61.51 and a 200 day moving average of $60.20.

Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 7th. The financial services provider reported $1.67 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.75 by ($0.08). The company had revenue of $298.41 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $316.84 million. Essent Group had a return on equity of 12.40% and a net margin of 55.63%.Essent Group’s revenue was down 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.65 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Essent Group Ltd. will post 6.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Essent Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.31 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 1st. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.0%. Essent Group’s payout ratio is currently 18.05%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ESNT has been the topic of a number of research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $60.00 price objective on shares of Essent Group and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Compass Point reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Essent Group in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Essent Group from $59.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a “cautious” rating in a report on Monday, October 6th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b+)” rating on shares of Essent Group in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut Essent Group from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $65.67.

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.