Quantinno Capital Management LP Sells 10,788 Shares of Essent Group Ltd. $ESNT

Quantinno Capital Management LP trimmed its holdings in shares of Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT) by 36.5% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 18,756 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 10,788 shares during the quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP’s holdings in Essent Group were worth $1,096,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Essent Group by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 11,987,945 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $779,336,000 after acquiring an additional 85,295 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Essent Group by 4.4% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,076,950 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $206,628,000 after purchasing an additional 129,672 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Essent Group during the fourth quarter valued at $155,516,000. Cooke & Bieler LP grew its holdings in Essent Group by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP now owns 1,952,006 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $126,900,000 after purchasing an additional 13,318 shares during the period. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Essent Group by 43.7% during the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,864,067 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $121,183,000 after purchasing an additional 567,103 shares during the period. 93.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently commented on ESNT shares. Weiss Ratings raised Essent Group from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 23rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on Essent Group from $74.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, August 10th. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Essent Group from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, August 10th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their target price on shares of Essent Group from $68.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, August 10th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Essent Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $71.86.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Essent Group news, SVP Vijay Bhasin sold 483 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.00, for a total value of $33,810.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 198,449 shares in the company, valued at $13,891,430. This represents a 0.24% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO David B. Weinstock sold 5,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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. This trade represents a 13.42% 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. In the last three months, insiders have sold 40,320 shares of company stock valued at $2,625,422. Corporate insiders own 3.60% of the company’s stock.

Essent Group Price Performance

NYSE:ESNT opened at $69.53 on Friday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $63.96 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $61.81. Essent Group Ltd. has a 52 week low of $55.34 and a 52 week high of $70.00. The stock has a market cap of $6.25 billion, a PE ratio of 9.70, a P/E/G ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a quick ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 1.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09.

Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, June 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.08 earnings per share for the quarter. Essent Group had a return on equity of 11.91% and a net margin of 51.45%.The firm had revenue of $362.69 million during the quarter. As a group, analysts forecast that Essent Group Ltd. will post 7.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Essent Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Investors of record on Monday, August 31st will be issued a $0.35 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 31st. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.0%. Essent Group’s payout ratio is currently 19.53%.

Essent Group 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.