Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT) Shares Purchased by Advisors Asset Management Inc.

Advisors Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT) by 53.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,362 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 477 shares during the period. Advisors Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Essent Group were worth $88,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ESNT. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its holdings in shares of Essent Group by 726.8% in the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 463 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 407 shares in the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Essent Group in the third quarter valued at $32,000. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new position in Essent Group in the second quarter valued at $47,000. Quarry LP grew its holdings in shares of Essent Group by 167.1% during the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 836 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $47,000 after purchasing an additional 523 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of Essent Group by 49.7% during the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,187 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $67,000 after purchasing an additional 394 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ESNT has been the subject of several research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Essent Group from $68.00 to $67.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, November 4th. BTIG Research boosted their price objective on Essent Group from $61.00 to $64.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on shares of Essent Group from $73.00 to $67.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Barclays cut their target price on shares of Essent Group from $72.00 to $69.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on shares of Essent Group from $68.00 to $60.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Essent Group has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $65.00.

Insider Activity at Essent Group

In other news, CFO David B. Weinstock sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.59, for a total transaction of $127,180.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 25,416 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,616,203.44. This represents a 7.30 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 2.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Essent Group Trading Up 0.1 %

NYSE:ESNT opened at $57.78 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $60.07 and its 200-day simple moving average is $59.53. Essent Group Ltd. has a 12-month low of $47.56 and a 12-month high of $65.33. The firm has a market cap of $6.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.37, a PEG ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 1.12.

Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 1st. The financial services provider reported $1.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.73 by ($0.08). Essent Group had a net margin of 60.15% and a return on equity of 13.81%. The firm had revenue of $3.17 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $316.80 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.66 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 969.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Essent Group Ltd. will post 6.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Essent Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 11th. Investors of record on Monday, December 2nd will be issued a dividend of $0.28 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.94%. Essent Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 16.23%.

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.