Essent Group Ltd. $ESNT Shares Sold by Corebridge Financial Inc.

Key Points

• Corebridge Financial Inc. reduced its stake in Essent Group Ltd. by 2.9%, selling 4,916 shares and owning a total of 166,414 shares valued at approximately $9.6 million.
• Essent Group recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.31 per share, representing an annualized yield of 1.9% and a payout ratio of 18.10%.
• In its latest earnings report, Essent Group surpassed analyst expectations with $1.93 EPS and $319.14 million in revenue, indicating a 2.0% year-over-year increase in revenue.

Corebridge Financial Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT - Free Report) by 2.9% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 166,414 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 4,916 shares during the quarter. Corebridge Financial Inc. owned 0.16% of Essent Group worth $9,605,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Fifth Third Bancorp grew its position in Essent Group by 20.2% during the first quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 1,114 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $64,000 after buying an additional 187 shares during the period. State of Alaska Department of Revenue grew its position in shares of Essent Group by 0.5% in the first quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 39,301 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $2,268,000 after purchasing an additional 190 shares during the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Essent Group by 5.7% in the first quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 3,721 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $215,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV grew its position in shares of Essent Group by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 6,988 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $380,000 after purchasing an additional 242 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Forum Financial Management LP grew its position in shares of Essent Group by 8.1% in the fourth quarter. Forum Financial Management LP now owns 3,912 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $213,000 after purchasing an additional 294 shares during the last quarter. 93.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Essent Group news, SVP Mary Lourdes Gibbons sold 3,760 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.00, for a total transaction of $233,120.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 247,023 shares of the company's stock, valued at $15,315,426. This trade represents a 1.50% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director William Spiegel sold 6,451 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.74, for a total transaction of $404,735.74. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 26,252 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,647,050.48. This represents a 19.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 14,950 shares of company stock valued at $919,651 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 3.40% of the company's stock.

Essent Group Stock Down 0.3%

ESNT traded down $0.19 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $62.73. 439,441 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 591,562. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $59.47 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $57.77. The company has a market cap of $6.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.16, a PEG ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 0.85. Essent Group Ltd. has a fifty-two week low of $51.61 and a fifty-two week high of $65.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 1.24.

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

Essent Group Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Essent Group from $58.00 to $59.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. set a $60.00 target price on shares of Essent Group in a research report on Friday, August 8th. DOWLING & PARTN lowered shares of Essent Group from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $60.00 target price on shares of Essent Group and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Finally, Compass Point reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Essent Group in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $63.67.

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.