Hussman Strategic Advisors Inc. Makes New $572,000 Investment in Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT)

Hussman Strategic Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 10,500 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $572,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its position in shares of Essent Group by 132.4% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 424,542 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $27,294,000 after purchasing an additional 241,840 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its position in shares of Essent Group by 31.1% in the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 984,414 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $53,591,000 after purchasing an additional 233,636 shares during the period. Barclays PLC lifted its position in shares of Essent Group by 154.7% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 208,927 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $13,431,000 after purchasing an additional 126,899 shares during the period. Walleye Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of Essent Group by 45.5% in the 3rd quarter. Walleye Capital LLC now owns 345,675 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $22,223,000 after purchasing an additional 108,061 shares during the period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in shares of Essent Group by 10.8% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,021,343 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $65,662,000 after purchasing an additional 99,604 shares during the period. 93.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on ESNT. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of Essent Group from $67.00 to $60.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, December 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on shares of Essent Group from $68.00 to $60.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Barclays cut shares of Essent Group from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $69.00 to $58.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price on shares of Essent Group from $72.00 to $71.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $67.00 target price on shares of Essent Group in a research report on Tuesday. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $62.57.

Essent Group Trading Up 0.5 %

NYSE ESNT opened at $56.13 on Friday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $56.19 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $58.97. The stock has a market cap of $5.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.21, a P/E/G ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 1.11. Essent Group Ltd. has a 12-month low of $51.93 and a 12-month high of $65.33.

Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 14th. The financial services provider reported $1.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.67 by ($0.09). The company had revenue of $315.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $313.88 million. Essent Group had a return on equity of 13.35% and a net margin of 58.69%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.64 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Essent Group Ltd. will post 6.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Essent Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.31 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.21%. This is a boost from Essent Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. Essent Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 16.37%.

Essent Group Company 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.