Horizon Investments LLC Increases Stake in Essent Group Ltd. $ESNT

Horizon Investments LLC lifted its stake in Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT) by 18.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 61,970 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 9,863 shares during the quarter. Horizon Investments LLC’s holdings in Essent Group were worth $4,029,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC raised its position in shares of Essent Group by 3.6% in the 3rd quarter. Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC now owns 4,832 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $302,000 after purchasing an additional 166 shares during the last quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. raised its position in shares of Essent Group by 45.5% in the 3rd 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 during the last quarter. Inspire Advisors LLC raised its position in Essent Group by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Inspire Advisors LLC now owns 11,830 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $752,000 after buying an additional 198 shares during the last quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund raised its position in Essent Group by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 51,945 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,302,000 after buying an additional 218 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tidal Investments LLC raised its position in Essent Group by 1.2% during the 2nd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 21,801 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,324,000 after buying an additional 261 shares during the last quarter. 93.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Essent Group Stock Performance

ESNT opened at $60.03 on Monday. Essent Group Ltd. has a 12-month low of $55.22 and a 12-month high of $67.09. The company has a current ratio of 1.20, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.64 billion, a PE ratio of 8.71, a P/E/G ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 0.81. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $60.07 and a two-hundred day moving average of $61.72.

Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT) last posted its earnings results on Saturday, February 14th. The financial services provider reported $1.60 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.74 by ($0.14). The firm had revenue of $312.40 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $312.62 million. Essent Group had a net margin of 54.72% and a return on equity of 12.09%. Essent Group’s revenue for the quarter was down .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.58 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Essent Group Ltd. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Essent Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 23rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 13th were issued a dividend of $0.35 per share. This is a positive change from Essent Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 13th. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.3%. Essent Group’s payout ratio is presently 20.32%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ESNT has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Essent Group from $65.00 to $64.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Essent Group from $65.00 to $63.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 12th. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Essent Group from $63.00 to $61.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 6th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $70.00 price target on shares of Essent Group in a research report on Tuesday, January 6th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $67.86.

Insider Activity at Essent Group

In other news, CEO Mark Casale sold 13,064 shares of Essent Group 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 transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,218,480 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $144,312,124. The trade was a 0.59% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, SVP Mary Lourdes Gibbons sold 7,628 shares of Essent Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.01, for a total transaction of $480,640.28. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 237,586 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,970,293.86. This trade represents a 3.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 25,814 shares of company stock valued at $1,661,682. Insiders own 3.60% of the company’s stock.

Essent Group Company Profile

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.