Essent Group Ltd. $ESNT Shares Acquired by Intech Investment Management LLC

Key Points

• Intech Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Essent Group Ltd. by 2.0% in Q1, owning approximately 0.27% of the company worth $15.7 million after acquiring an additional 5,251 shares.
• Director William Spiegel sold 6,451 shares of Essent Group stock, resulting in a 19.73% decrease in his position, while CFO David B. Weinstock also reduced his stake by 8.37%.
• Essent Group recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.31, representing an annualized payout of $1.24 with a yield of 2.0%.

Intech Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT - Free Report) by 2.0% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 271,788 shares of the financial services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 5,251 shares during the period. Intech Investment Management LLC owned about 0.27% of Essent Group worth $15,688,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Essent Group by 4.5% during 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. Polar Capital Holdings Plc lifted its position in shares of Essent Group by 14.9% during the 4th quarter. Polar Capital Holdings Plc now owns 2,700,000 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $146,988,000 after acquiring an additional 350,000 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Essent Group by 1,272.6% during the 1st quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 970,969 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $56,044,000 after acquiring an additional 900,229 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Essent Group by 64.2% during the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 848,282 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $48,581,000 after acquiring an additional 331,535 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE lifted its position in shares of Essent Group by 64.5% during the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 721,457 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $39,276,000 after acquiring an additional 282,895 shares during the period. 93.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on ESNT shares. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Essent Group in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Barclays lifted 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. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $60.00 price target on shares of Essent Group and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut shares of Essent Group from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Finally, DOWLING & PARTN cut shares of Essent Group from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 12th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $63.67.

Essent Group Trading Down 0.5%

ESNT stock traded down $0.30 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $63.51. The stock had a trading volume of 168,143 shares, compared to its average volume of 722,425. The firm has a market cap of $6.26 billion, a PE ratio of 9.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 0.85. 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 Ltd. has a 12-month low of $51.61 and a 12-month high of $65.33. The company's 50-day moving average price is $59.93 and its 200 day moving average price is $58.26.

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

Essent Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 29th were paid a $0.31 dividend. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 29th. Essent Group's payout ratio is presently 18.10%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Essent Group

In other Essent Group news, SVP Mary Lourdes Gibbons sold 3,760 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.00, for a total transaction of $233,120.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 247,023 shares in the company, valued at $15,315,426. This represents a 1.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director William Spiegel sold 6,451 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.74, for a total value of $404,735.74. Following the sale, the director owned 26,252 shares of the company's stock, valued at $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 have sold a total of 12,450 shares of company stock valued at $772,676 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 3.40% of the company's stock.

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.