Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC Sells 19,428 Shares of Essent Group Ltd. $ESNT

Key Points

• Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors cut its Essent Group stake by 54.2% in the fourth quarter, selling 19,428 shares and leaving it with 16,385 shares valued at about $1.07 million.
• Insider selling continued: CEO Mark Casale and SVP Mary Lourdes Gibbons sold shares in recent Rule 10b5-1 trades, bringing total insider sales over the last 90 days to 25,814 shares worth $1.66 million.
• Essent Group beat quarterly expectations, reporting EPS of $1.82 versus $1.68 expected and revenue of $336.07 million, while also announcing a quarterly dividend of $0.35 per share.

Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC decreased its position in Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT - Free Report) by 54.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 16,385 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 19,428 shares during the period. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC's holdings in Essent Group were worth $1,065,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in ESNT. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd bought a new position in Essent Group during the third quarter worth about $25,000. Measured Wealth Private Client Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Essent Group in the third quarter worth about $27,000. Hantz Financial Services Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Essent Group by 45.5% in the third quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 624 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 195 shares in the last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc raised its position 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 worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 333 shares during the period. Finally, Danske Bank A S acquired a new stake in shares of Essent Group during the third quarter worth about $57,000. Institutional investors own 93.00% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Essent Group news, CEO Mark Casale sold 13,064 shares of Essent Group stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.05, for a total value of $849,813.20. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,218,480 shares in the company, valued at approximately $144,312,124. The trade was a 0.59% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, SVP Mary Lourdes Gibbons sold 7,628 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.01, for a total transaction of $480,640.28. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 237,586 shares in the company, valued at $14,970,293.86. This trade represents a 3.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 25,814 shares of company stock valued at $1,661,682. 3.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Essent Group Stock Down 1.8%

NYSE:ESNT opened at $58.38 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $60.60 and a 200 day simple moving average of $61.77. Essent Group Ltd. has a 52-week low of $55.22 and a 52-week high of $67.09. The company has a market cap of $5.38 billion, a PE ratio of 8.32, a PEG ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 0.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a quick ratio of 1.32 and a current ratio of 1.32.

Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Friday, May 8th. The financial services provider reported $1.82 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.68 by $0.14. Essent Group had a return on equity of 12.01% and a net margin of 53.64%.The firm had revenue of $336.07 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $297.56 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.69 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 5.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Essent Group Ltd. will post 7.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Essent Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 10th. Investors of record on Monday, June 1st will be given a $0.35 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 1st. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.4%. Essent Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 19.94%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently issued reports on ESNT. UBS Group decreased their price objective on Essent Group from $65.00 to $63.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 12th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Essent Group in a research note on Friday, May 22nd. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Essent Group from $61.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, May 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of Essent Group from $65.00 to $64.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada began coverage on shares of Essent Group in a report on Friday, May 22nd. They set a "sector perform" rating and a $68.00 price objective on the stock. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $67.86.

About Essent Group

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.