Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC Lowers Stock Holdings in Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT)

Key Points

• Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC reduced its holdings in Essent Group Ltd. by 27.7%, selling 13,500 shares in the first quarter, now owning 35,273 shares valued at approximately $2.04 million.
• Vanguard Group Inc. and several other institutional investors increased their stakes in Essent Group during the fourth quarter, with Vanguard boosting its holdings by 3.6% and now owning over 12.36 million shares.
• Essent Group's stock recently reported earnings of $1.69 per share, exceeding analysts' expectations, and it announced a quarterly dividend of $0.31 per share with a yield of 2.19%.

Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC decreased its position in shares of Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT - Free Report) by 27.7% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 35,273 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 13,500 shares during the period. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC's holdings in Essent Group were worth $2,036,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in ESNT. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Essent Group during the fourth quarter valued at about $2,456,000. Corient Private Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Essent Group during the fourth quarter valued at about $326,000. American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in shares of Essent Group by 12.2% during the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 839,455 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $45,700,000 after buying an additional 91,595 shares during the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. grew its stake in shares of Essent Group by 30.9% during the fourth quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 112,394 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $6,119,000 after buying an additional 26,537 shares during the last quarter. Finally, KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS bought a new position in shares of Essent Group during the fourth quarter valued at about $2,080,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.00% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Mary Lourdes Gibbons sold 1,999 shares of Essent Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.00, for a total transaction of $119,940.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 251,023 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,061,380. This trade represents a 0.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO David B. Weinstock sold 2,500 shares of Essent Group stock in a transaction that occurred on 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. The trade was a 8.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 9,740 shares of company stock worth $581,386 over the last three months. Company insiders own 3.40% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ESNT has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Barclays raised their price objective on Essent Group from $58.00 to $59.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. BTIG Research reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Essent Group in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Essent Group in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Compass Point set a $69.00 target price on Essent Group and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, May 23rd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut Essent Group from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and raised their target price for the stock from $65.00 to $67.00 in a research note on Monday, July 7th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $63.71.

Essent Group Price Performance

ESNT traded up $0.24 on Wednesday, hitting $56.78. The company had a trading volume of 143,071 shares, compared to its average volume of 754,616. Essent Group Ltd. has a 52-week low of $51.61 and a 52-week high of $65.33. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $58.28 and a 200-day simple moving average of $57.33. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.30, a P/E/G ratio of 8.19 and a beta of 0.81.

Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, May 9th. The financial services provider reported $1.69 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.66 by $0.03. Essent Group had a net margin of 57.29% and a return on equity of 12.98%. The business had revenue of $317.56 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $311.18 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.70 earnings per share. Essent Group's quarterly revenue was up 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Essent Group Ltd. will post 6.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Essent Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 30th were issued a $0.31 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 30th. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.18%. Essent Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 18.16%.

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.