Bamco Inc. NY Sells 25,000 Shares of Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT)

Bamco Inc. NY lowered its holdings in shares of Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT) by 3.9% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 617,842 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 25,000 shares during the period. Bamco Inc. NY owned about 0.58% of Essent Group worth $36,768,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Essent Group during the fourth quarter worth $60,678,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Essent Group by 3.8% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 11,917,819 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $709,229,000 after buying an additional 440,385 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Essent Group during the fourth quarter worth $20,097,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Essent Group by 6.9% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,025,836 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $212,326,000 after buying an additional 258,246 shares during the period. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Essent Group by 31.2% during the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 650,270 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $34,295,000 after buying an additional 154,591 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 93.00% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have commented on ESNT shares. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Essent Group from $63.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on shares of Essent Group from $62.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on shares of Essent Group from $64.00 to $61.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, May 6th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Essent Group from $57.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 22nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Essent Group from $61.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, July 8th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $59.88.

Essent Group Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ESNT traded up $0.76 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $62.85. 661,146 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 519,025. The stock has a market cap of $6.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.51, a PEG ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.11. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $57.20 and a 200 day simple moving average of $55.62. Essent Group Ltd. has a 1-year low of $45.63 and a 1-year high of $62.99.

Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 3rd. The financial services provider reported $1.70 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.56 by $0.14. Essent Group had a net margin of 61.40% and a return on equity of 14.24%. The company had revenue of $298.40 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $298.69 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.59 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 16.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Essent Group Ltd. will post 6.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Essent Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 10th. Investors of record on Friday, May 31st were given a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 31st. Essent Group’s payout ratio is currently 16.94%.

Insider Activity at Essent Group

In related news, SVP Vijay Bhasin sold 11,188 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.14, for a total transaction of $672,846.32. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 199,359 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,989,450.26. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Essent Group news, Director Douglas J. Pauls sold 2,500 shares of Essent Group stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.12, for a total value of $140,300.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 27,112 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,521,525.44. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Vijay Bhasin sold 11,188 shares of Essent Group stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.14, for a total transaction of $672,846.32. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 199,359 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,989,450.26. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.