Edgestream Partners L.P. Purchases Shares of 129,458 Essent Group Ltd. $ESNT

Edgestream Partners L.P. purchased a new position in shares of Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 129,458 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $7,566,000.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. South Dakota Investment Council lifted its stake in shares of Essent Group by 27.7% in the 1st quarter. South Dakota Investment Council now owns 31,169 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,822,000 after purchasing an additional 6,762 shares in the last quarter. Amundi increased its position in Essent Group by 92.1% during the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 10,668 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $623,000 after purchasing an additional 5,116 shares in the last quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System increased its position in Essent Group by 25.1% during the 1st quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 115,549 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $6,753,000 after purchasing an additional 23,196 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC increased its position in Essent Group by 5.6% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 5,071 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $296,000 after purchasing an additional 270 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lombard Odier Asset Management USA Corp purchased a new position in Essent Group in the first quarter valued at approximately $333,000. 93.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Mark Casale sold 29,329 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.35, for a total value of $1,916,650.15. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,184,143 shares in the company, valued at approximately $142,733,745.05. This represents a 1.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO David B. Weinstock sold 5,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.51, for a total transaction of $349,305.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 35,494 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,254,223.94. The trade was a 13.42% 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 three months, insiders have sold 39,837 shares of company stock worth $2,591,612. Corporate insiders own 3.60% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have weighed in on ESNT. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Essent Group from $61.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, May 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Essent Group from $65.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, July 13th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Essent Group from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 23rd. Royal Bank Of Canada began coverage on shares of Essent Group in a report on Friday, May 22nd. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $68.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of Essent Group from $73.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 25th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $67.71.

Essent Group Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:ESNT opened at $68.05 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $61.85 and its 200 day simple moving average is $61.30. The company has a market cap of $6.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.69, a PEG ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a quick ratio of 1.32 and a current ratio of 1.32. Essent Group Ltd. has a one year low of $55.34 and a one year high of $68.61.

Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 8th. The financial services provider reported $1.82 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.68 by $0.14. Essent Group had a return on equity of 12.01% and a net margin of 53.64%.The firm had revenue of $336.07 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $297.56 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.69 EPS. Essent Group’s quarterly revenue was up 5.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Essent Group Ltd. will post 7.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Essent Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 1st were given a dividend of $0.35 per share. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 1st. Essent Group’s payout ratio is presently 19.94%.

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.