Renaissance Technologies LLC Purchases 17,500 Shares of Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT)

Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its stake in Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT - Free Report) by 40.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 60,600 shares of the financial services provider's stock after buying an additional 17,500 shares during the quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC owned 0.06% of Essent Group worth $3,299,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Barclays PLC lifted its holdings in shares of Essent Group by 154.7% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 208,927 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $13,431,000 after purchasing an additional 126,899 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Essent Group by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,570,532 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $85,500,000 after purchasing an additional 19,387 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Essent Group by 10.8% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,021,343 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $65,662,000 after purchasing an additional 99,604 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV boosted its position in Essent Group by 39.8% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 4,207 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $229,000 after acquiring an additional 1,198 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake in shares of Essent Group by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 60,250 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $3,294,000 after acquiring an additional 811 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.00% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ESNT has been the subject of several recent research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their target price on shares of Essent Group from $71.00 to $65.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Barclays cut shares of Essent Group from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $69.00 to $58.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $67.00 price target on shares of Essent Group in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Essent Group from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $60.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $61.71.

Essent Group Stock Performance

Shares of ESNT traded down $0.25 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $55.70. The company had a trading volume of 49,858 shares, compared to its average volume of 636,612. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $55.79 and its 200 day simple moving average is $56.63. Essent Group Ltd. has a 1-year low of $51.61 and a 1-year high of $65.34. The company has a market capitalization of $5.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.14, a P/E/G ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 0.80.

Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT - Get Free Report) 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). Essent Group had a net margin of 58.69% and a return on equity of 13.35%. The company had revenue of $315.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $313.88 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.64 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Essent Group Ltd. will post 6.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Essent Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were given a dividend of $0.31 per share. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.23%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This is a boost from Essent Group's previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. Essent Group's dividend payout ratio is 18.13%.

About Essent Group

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.