Essent Group Ltd. $ESNT Shares Sold by Legal & General Group Plc

Key Points

• Legal & General Group Plc cut its Essent Group stake by 24.7% in the fourth quarter, selling 52,444 shares and leaving it with 159,806 shares valued at about $10.39 million.
• Essent Group’s latest quarterly results beat expectations, with EPS of $1.82 versus $1.68 expected and revenue of $336.07 million versus $297.56 million forecast. The company also reported year-over-year revenue growth of 5.8%.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.35 per share, payable June 10, implying an annualized dividend of $1.40 and a yield of 2.5%. At the same time, analysts remain cautious overall, with a consensus rating of Hold and a price target of $66.43.

Legal & General Group Plc lowered its position in shares of Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT - Free Report) by 24.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 159,806 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 52,444 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc owned approximately 0.17% of Essent Group worth $10,389,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Essent Group during the third quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Measured Wealth Private Client Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Essent Group during the third quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Hantz Financial Services Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Essent Group by 45.5% during the third quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 624 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 195 shares during the last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc raised its holdings in shares of Essent Group by 97.1% during the fourth quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 676 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $44,000 after acquiring an additional 333 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Horizon Corp raised its holdings in shares of Essent Group by 192.8% during the fourth quarter. First Horizon Corp now owns 893 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $58,000 after acquiring an additional 588 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.00% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have commented on ESNT shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Essent Group from $65.00 to $64.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 9th. UBS Group reduced their target price on Essent Group from $65.00 to $63.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 12th. Royal Bank Of Canada started coverage on Essent Group in a report on Friday, May 22nd. They set a "sector perform" rating and a $68.00 target price for the company. Roth Mkm reissued a "buy" rating and set a $65.00 target price on shares of Essent Group in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on Essent Group from $61.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, May 11th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Essent Group currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $66.43.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Mark Casale sold 13,064 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.05, for a total value of $849,813.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,218,480 shares in the company, valued at $144,312,124. This represents a 0.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, SVP Mary Lourdes Gibbons sold 4,250 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.01, for a total value of $276,292.50. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 233,336 shares of the company's stock, valued at $15,169,173.36. This trade represents a 1.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 25,814 shares of company stock valued at $1,661,682 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 3.60% of the company's stock.

Essent Group Price Performance

ESNT stock opened at $55.82 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a current ratio of 1.32 and a quick ratio of 1.32. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $60.53 and a 200-day simple moving average of $61.63. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.14 billion, a PE ratio of 7.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.78. Essent Group Ltd. has a 1 year low of $55.22 and a 1 year high of $67.09.

Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 8th. The financial services provider reported $1.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.68 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $336.07 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $297.56 million. Essent Group had a return on equity of 12.01% and a net margin of 53.64%.The business's revenue was up 5.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.69 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Essent Group Ltd. will post 7.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Essent Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 1st will be given a $0.35 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 1st. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.5%. Essent Group's dividend payout ratio is 19.94%.

Essent Group Profile

Essent Group Ltd. NYSE: ESNT is a publicly traded insurance holding company specializing in private mortgage insurance and mortgage reinsurance solutions. Through its primary subsidiary, Essent Guaranty, the company provides credit protection to mortgage lenders, helping mitigate the risk of borrower default on residential mortgage loans. Essent's insurance policies enable lenders to offer low-down-payment programs, supporting homebuyers in achieving homeownership with reduced upfront equity requirements.

Beyond traditional mortgage insurance, Essent offers a suite of risk management and analytics services designed to help financial institutions monitor and manage mortgage portfolios.

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