Vestcor Inc Acquires New Position in Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT)

Vestcor Inc bought a new position in Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 8,172 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $445,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Mainstream Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Essent Group during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. US Bancorp DE grew its position in shares of Essent Group by 53.3% during the 4th quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 1,125 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $61,000 after acquiring an additional 391 shares during the period. R Squared Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Essent Group during the 4th quarter valued at $63,000. Advisors Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in Essent Group by 53.9% in the 3rd quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,362 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $88,000 after purchasing an additional 477 shares during the period. Finally, Parkside Financial Bank & Trust raised its holdings in Essent Group by 8.2% in the 4th quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 2,363 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $129,000 after purchasing an additional 180 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.00% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ESNT has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $67.00 price target on shares of Essent Group in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price on shares of Essent Group from $72.00 to $71.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Essent Group from $67.00 to $60.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Barclays downgraded Essent Group from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $69.00 to $58.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Essent Group currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $62.57.

Essent Group Trading Up 0.3 %

NYSE:ESNT opened at $54.87 on Tuesday. Essent Group Ltd. has a twelve month low of $52.22 and a twelve month high of $65.34. The company’s 50 day moving average is $56.81 and its two-hundred day moving average is $58.33. The company has a market cap of $5.70 billion, a PE ratio of 8.02, a P/E/G ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 1.09.

Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 14th. The financial services provider reported $1.58 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.67 by ($0.09). The company had revenue of $315.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $313.88 million. Essent Group had a return on equity of 13.35% and a net margin of 58.69%. The business’s revenue was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.64 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Essent Group Ltd. will post 6.88 EPS for the current fiscal 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 paid a $0.31 dividend. This is a positive change from Essent Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.26%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Essent Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 18.13%.

Essent Group 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.