Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in Essent Group Ltd. $ESNT

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT) by 48.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 29,835 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 9,675 shares during the period. Jefferies Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Essent Group were worth $1,940,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in ESNT. MQS Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Essent Group by 4.4% in the fourth quarter. MQS Management LLC now owns 10,113 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $657,000 after acquiring an additional 428 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Essent Group by 43.1% in the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,540 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $165,000 after acquiring an additional 765 shares during the period. IFP Advisors Inc grew its holdings in shares of Essent Group by 97.1% in the fourth quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 676 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $44,000 after acquiring an additional 333 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Essent Group by 5.6% in the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 3,238 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $211,000 after acquiring an additional 172 shares during the period. Finally, GSA Capital Partners LLP bought a new stake in shares of Essent Group in the fourth quarter worth $1,136,000. 93.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Essent Group news, CEO Mark Casale sold 13,064 shares of Essent Group stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.05, for a total value of $849,813.20. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,218,480 shares in the company, valued at approximately $144,312,124. The trade was a 0.59% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, SVP Mary Lourdes Gibbons sold 4,250 shares of Essent Group stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 233,336 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,169,173.36. This represents a 1.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 25,814 shares of company stock worth $1,661,682. 3.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Essent Group Stock Down 1.7%

NYSE ESNT opened at $59.39 on Thursday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $60.60 and its 200 day moving average is $61.79. The company has a current ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 1.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. Essent Group Ltd. has a 12 month low of $55.22 and a 12 month high of $67.09. The stock has a market cap of $5.47 billion, a PE ratio of 8.46, a P/E/G ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 0.81.

Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, May 8th. The financial services provider reported $1.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.68 by $0.14. Essent Group had a net margin of 53.64% and a return on equity of 12.01%. The business had revenue of $336.07 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $297.56 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.69 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 5.8% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that Essent Group Ltd. will post 7.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Essent Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 1st will be issued a $0.35 dividend. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 1st. Essent Group’s payout ratio is currently 19.94%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ESNT has been the topic of a number of research reports. Royal Bank Of Canada initiated coverage on shares of Essent Group in a report on Friday, May 22nd. They issued a “sector perform” rating and a $68.00 price objective on the stock. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Essent Group in a report on Friday, May 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Essent Group from $65.00 to $64.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 9th. UBS Group decreased their target price on Essent Group from $65.00 to $63.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 12th. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on Essent Group from $61.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, May 11th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Essent Group currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $67.86.

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.