Bessemer Group Inc. Acquires 62,473 Shares of Essent Group Ltd. $ESNT

Bessemer Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT) by 14.8% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 485,298 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 62,473 shares during the period. Bessemer Group Inc.’s holdings in Essent Group were worth $31,550,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in ESNT. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd bought a new position in shares of Essent Group during the third quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Measured Wealth Private Client Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Essent Group during the third quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Hantz Financial Services Inc. increased its stake in shares of Essent Group by 45.5% during the third quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 624 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 195 shares in the last quarter. Danske Bank A S bought a new position in shares of Essent Group during the third quarter valued at approximately $57,000. Finally, First Horizon Corp increased its stake in shares of Essent Group by 192.8% during the fourth quarter. First Horizon Corp now owns 893 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $58,000 after purchasing an additional 588 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Essent Group

In related news, CEO Mark Casale sold 13,064 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,218,480 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $144,312,124. This trade represents a 0.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, SVP Mary Lourdes Gibbons sold 4,250 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.01, for a total transaction of $276,292.50. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 233,336 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,169,173.36. This trade represents 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. Insiders have sold 25,814 shares of company stock valued at $1,661,682 in the last three months. 3.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Essent Group Price Performance

Shares of ESNT opened at $60.36 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $5.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 0.81. The company has a quick ratio of 1.20, a current ratio of 1.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $60.18 and a 200 day moving average of $61.76. Essent Group Ltd. has a twelve month low of $55.22 and a twelve month high of $67.09.

Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 8th. The financial services provider reported $1.82 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.69 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Essent Group Ltd. will post 7.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Essent Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 10th. Investors of record on Monday, June 1st will be given a dividend of $0.35 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 1st. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.3%. Essent Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 19.94%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on ESNT shares. 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. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Essent Group from $61.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Finally, 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. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average 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.