Bessemer Group Inc. Buys 15,326 Shares of Essent Group Ltd. $ESNT

Bessemer Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT) by 4.4% in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 362,490 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 15,326 shares during the quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. owned about 0.36% of Essent Group worth $22,013,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Summit Securities Group LLC bought a new position in Essent Group during the first quarter worth about $46,000. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new position in Essent Group during the first quarter worth about $99,000. Covestor Ltd boosted its position in Essent Group by 32.9% during the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,717 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $99,000 after purchasing an additional 425 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in Essent Group by 66.2% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,953 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $113,000 after purchasing an additional 778 shares during the period. Finally, Advisors Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in Essent Group by 20.6% during the first quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,268 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $131,000 after purchasing an additional 387 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 93.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ESNT has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Essent Group in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered shares of Essent Group from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Compass Point restated a “buy” rating on shares of Essent Group in a research report on Friday, August 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered shares of Essent Group from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $66.00 to $65.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 7th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Essent Group in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $65.67.

Essent Group Trading Down 0.9%

Shares of ESNT opened at $59.86 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $62.24 and its 200 day simple moving average is $59.57. The company has a market capitalization of $5.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.74, a P/E/G ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 1.24. Essent Group Ltd. has a 1-year low of $51.61 and a 1-year high of $65.90.

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

Essent Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 29th were issued a $0.31 dividend. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 29th. Essent Group’s payout ratio is presently 18.10%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Essent Group

In other news, Director William Spiegel sold 6,451 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.74, for a total value of $404,735.74. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 26,252 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,647,050.48. The trade was a 19.73% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Vijay Bhasin sold 11,479 shares of the business’s 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 $746,135.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 196,922 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,799,930. The trade was a 5.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 28,190 shares of company stock valued at $1,802,316. Insiders own 3.40% of the company’s stock.

Essent Group 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.