Intech Investment Management LLC Acquires 5,251 Shares of Essent Group Ltd. $ESNT

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 stake in shares of Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT - Free Report) by 2.0% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 271,788 shares of the financial services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 5,251 shares during the period. Intech Investment Management LLC owned 0.27% of Essent Group worth $15,688,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 230,553 shares during the last quarter. Polar Capital Holdings Plc increased its stake in shares of Essent Group by 14.9% in 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 purchasing an additional 350,000 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Essent Group by 1,272.6% in 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 purchasing an additional 900,229 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Essent Group by 64.2% in 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 purchasing an additional 331,535 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE increased its stake in shares of Essent Group by 64.5% in 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 purchasing an additional 282,895 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.00% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on ESNT. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $60.00 price target on Essent Group and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Essent Group in a research report on Friday, August 8th. DOWLING & PARTN lowered Essent Group from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 12th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered Essent Group from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on Essent Group from $58.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $63.67.

Essent Group Trading Down 0.8%

ESNT traded down $0.52 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $63.75. 444,215 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 460,227. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.31, a P/E/G ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.86. Essent Group Ltd. has a 1-year low of $51.61 and a 1-year high of $65.33. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $59.93 and its 200-day moving average price is $58.25. The company has a quick ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09.

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

Essent Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 10th. Investors of record on Friday, August 29th were paid a dividend of $0.31 per share. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 29th. Essent Group's dividend payout ratio is 18.10%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Essent Group news, Director William Spiegel sold 6,451 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the director directly owned 26,252 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,647,050.48. The trade was a 19.73% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO David B. Weinstock sold 2,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.79, for a total value of $146,975.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 27,365 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,608,788.35. This represents a 8.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 14,950 shares of company stock valued at $919,651. 2.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.