Polar Capital Holdings Plc Has $159.27 Million Holdings in Essent Group Ltd. $ESNT

Key Points

• Polar Capital Holdings trimmed its Essent Group stake by 2.0% in the fourth quarter, but still held 2.45 million shares worth about $159.3 million, or roughly 2.53% of the company.
• Essent Group’s latest quarterly results beat expectations, with EPS of $1.82 versus $1.68 expected and revenue of $336.1 million versus $297.6 million forecast. The company also posted year-over-year revenue growth of 5.8%.
• Analysts remain mixed on the stock, with an average rating of Hold and a mean price target of $66.43. The company also recently paid a quarterly dividend of $0.35 per share, yielding about 2.4% annually.

Polar Capital Holdings Plc trimmed its stake in Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT - Free Report) by 2.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,450,000 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 50,000 shares during the period. Polar Capital Holdings Plc owned about 2.53% of Essent Group worth $159,274,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in ESNT. Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC lifted its stake in shares of Essent Group by 3.6% in the third quarter. Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC now owns 4,832 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $302,000 after buying an additional 166 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its stake in Essent Group by 5.6% during the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 3,238 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $211,000 after acquiring an additional 172 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors LLC increased its stake in Essent Group by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 16,584 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,078,000 after acquiring an additional 204 shares during the period. Clearstead Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Essent Group by 26.4% in the 4th quarter. Clearstead Advisors LLC now owns 1,162 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $76,000 after acquiring an additional 243 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tidal Investments LLC raised its holdings in Essent Group by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 21,801 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,324,000 after acquiring an additional 261 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.00% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the company. 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 price objective on the stock. Barclays raised their target price on Essent Group from $61.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, May 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of Essent Group from $65.00 to $64.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 9th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Essent Group from a "buy (b)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a research note on Thursday, June 4th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Essent Group from $65.00 to $63.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 12th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $66.43.

Insider Transactions at Essent Group

In related news, CEO Mark Casale sold 13,064 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.05, for a total transaction of $849,813.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,218,480 shares in the company, valued at $144,312,124. This trade represents a 0.59% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, SVP Mary Lourdes Gibbons sold 4,250 shares of Essent Group stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.01, for a total transaction of $276,292.50. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 233,336 shares of the company's stock, valued at $15,169,173.36. This represents a 1.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 25,814 shares of company stock valued at $1,661,682 in the last quarter. 3.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Essent Group Price Performance

Essent Group stock opened at $59.55 on Wednesday. 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 company has a market capitalization of $5.49 billion, a PE ratio of 8.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 0.78. Essent Group Ltd. has a one year low of $55.22 and a one year high of $67.09. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $60.48 and a 200 day simple moving average of $61.39.

Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 8th. The financial services provider reported $1.82 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 period in the prior year, the business posted $1.69 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 5.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Essent Group Ltd. will post 7.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Essent Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 1st were issued a $0.35 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 1st. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.4%. Essent Group's dividend payout ratio is presently 19.94%.

Essent Group Company 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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