Essent Group Ltd. $ESNT Position Lifted by Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V.

Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. raised its position in Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT) by 70.8% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 109,148 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 45,239 shares during the period. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V.’s holdings in Essent Group were worth $6,321,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ESNT. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Essent Group in the second quarter valued at approximately $798,836,000. Renaissancere Holdings Ltd. purchased a new stake in Essent Group in the second quarter valued at about $107,114,521. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in Essent Group by 16.8% during the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 914,471 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $53,442,000 after purchasing an additional 131,823 shares during the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG acquired a new position in shares of Essent Group in the 2nd quarter valued at $43,068,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Essent Group during the second quarter worth about $41,041,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently issued reports on ESNT. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Essent Group from $65.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 5th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Essent Group from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a research report on Thursday. Roth Capital boosted their target price on shares of Essent Group from $65.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 10th. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Essent Group from $68.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, August 10th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Essent Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 15th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $71.14.

Essent Group Price Performance

Essent Group stock opened at $66.83 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $65.98 and its 200-day simple moving average is $63.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a quick ratio of 1.18 and a current ratio of 1.18. Essent Group Ltd. has a 1 year low of $55.34 and a 1 year high of $70.37. The company has a market capitalization of $6.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 0.76.

Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT) last posted 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 net margin of 51.45% and a return on equity of 11.91%. The firm had revenue of $362.69 million during the quarter. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Essent Group Ltd. will post 7.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Essent Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 10th. Investors of record on Monday, August 31st were paid a dividend of $0.35 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 31st. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.1%. Essent Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 19.53%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Vijay Bhasin sold 14,175 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.00, for a total transaction of $992,250.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 184,274 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,899,180. This represents a 7.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible 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 firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.54, for a total value of $376,970.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 29,994 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,055,788.76. This represents a 15.50% 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 quarter, insiders have sold 70,146 shares of company stock valued at $4,900,365. 3.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Essent Group Company Profile

Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE: ESNT) is a Bermuda-based holding company that provides private mortgage insurance and related risk-management services in the United States. Through its operating subsidiaries, the company helps protect mortgage lenders and investors against losses when borrowers default on residential mortgage loans.

Its principal business is mortgage insurance for low-down-payment conventional residential mortgages, enabling qualified borrowers to obtain home financing with less than a 20% down payment.