American Century Companies Inc. Has $46.32 Million Stake in Essent Group Ltd. $ESNT

Key Points

• American Century Companies Inc. reduced its stake in Essent Group Ltd. by 4.4%, selling 37,007 shares to hold a total of 802,448 shares valued at approximately $46.3 million.
• Essent Group reported a quarterly earnings of $1.93 per share, exceeding analysts' expectations, and has declared a $0.31 quarterly dividend with a yield of 2.0%.
• Analysts have mixed ratings on Essent Group, with recent targets set between $58.00 and $60.00, reflecting a consensus price target of $63.67 on the stock.

American Century Companies Inc. cut its position in Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT - Free Report) by 4.4% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 802,448 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 37,007 shares during the quarter. American Century Companies Inc. owned 0.77% of Essent Group worth $46,317,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Element Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Essent Group in the first quarter valued at approximately $2,712,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in Essent Group by 4.5% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,399,228 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $311,638,000 after acquiring an additional 230,553 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC increased its position in Essent Group by 40.8% in the 1st quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 8,240 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $476,000 after acquiring an additional 2,386 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in shares of Essent Group during the first quarter valued at $34,060,000. Finally, Entropy Technologies LP raised its stake in shares of Essent Group by 326.1% during the first quarter. Entropy Technologies LP now owns 34,984 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $2,019,000 after acquiring an additional 26,774 shares during the last quarter. 93.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently weighed in on ESNT. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $60.00 price objective on shares of Essent Group and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Barclays lifted their target price on Essent Group from $58.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. DOWLING & PARTN cut Essent Group from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. set a $60.00 price objective on Essent Group in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut Essent Group from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a report on Friday, August 8th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $63.67.

Essent Group Trading Down 1.3%

NYSE ESNT traded down $0.8350 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $63.0650. 651,783 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 699,111. The firm has a market cap of $6.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.21, a PEG ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.82. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $59.13 and a 200 day simple moving average of $57.62. The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. Essent Group Ltd. has a 1-year low of $51.61 and a 1-year high of $65.33.

Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 8th. The financial services provider reported $1.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.68 by $0.25. The firm had revenue of $319.14 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $317.46 million. Essent Group had a return on equity of 12.66% and a net margin of 56.36%.The company's revenue for the quarter was up 2.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.91 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Essent Group Ltd. will post 6.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Essent Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 10th. Investors of record on Friday, August 29th will be paid a dividend of $0.31 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 29th. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.0%. Essent Group's dividend payout ratio is currently 18.10%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO David B. Weinstock sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.79, for a total transaction of $146,975.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 27,365 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,608,788.35. This represents a 8.37% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Mary Lourdes Gibbons sold 3,760 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.00, for a total value of $233,120.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 247,023 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $15,315,426. This represents a 1.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 14,950 shares of company stock worth $919,651. 3.40% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.