Principal Financial Group Inc. Grows Position in Essent Group Ltd. $ESNT

Key Points

• Principal Financial Group increased its stake in Essent Group by 16.8% in the first quarter, buying 131,823 more shares and bringing its holdings to 914,471 shares worth about $53.4 million.
• Insiders have been selling shares, including CFO David B. Weinstock and CEO Mark Casale, with total insider sales of 64,779 shares valued at about $4.2 million over the last quarter.
• Essent Group reported better-than-expected quarterly results with EPS of $1.82 and revenue of $336.07 million, while analysts currently rate the stock a cautious Hold with an average target price of $67.71.

Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT - Free Report) by 16.8% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 914,471 shares of the financial services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 131,823 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned 0.97% of Essent Group worth $53,442,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Essent Group by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 11,987,945 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $779,336,000 after buying an additional 85,295 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Essent Group by 4.4% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,076,950 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $206,628,000 after buying an additional 129,672 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Essent Group in the fourth quarter valued at $155,516,000. Cooke & Bieler LP raised its position in shares of Essent Group by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP now owns 1,952,006 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $126,900,000 after acquiring an additional 13,318 shares during the period. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Essent Group by 43.7% in the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,864,067 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $121,183,000 after acquiring an additional 567,103 shares during the period. 93.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Essent Group

In other news, CFO David B. Weinstock sold 5,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.51, for a total value of $349,305.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 35,494 shares in the company, valued at $2,254,223.94. This trade represents a 13.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Mark Casale sold 29,329 shares of Essent Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.35, for a total value of $1,916,650.15. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,184,143 shares in the company, valued at $142,733,745.05. This represents a 1.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 64,779 shares of company stock valued at $4,198,358 over the last quarter. 3.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on ESNT shares. Royal Bank Of Canada started coverage on Essent Group in a research report on Friday, May 22nd. They set a "sector perform" rating and a $68.00 target price on the stock. Weiss Ratings upgraded Essent Group from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "buy (b)" rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on Essent Group from $73.00 to $74.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, June 25th. Roth Capital reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $65.00 price objective on shares of Essent Group in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Essent Group from $65.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, July 13th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Essent Group has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $67.71.

Essent Group Stock Up 0.6%

Shares of NYSE ESNT opened at $66.67 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $6.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 0.76. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $61.04 and its 200-day simple moving average is $61.26. The company has a quick ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 1.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. Essent Group Ltd. has a 52-week low of $55.34 and a 52-week high of $67.46.

Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 8th. The financial services provider reported $1.82 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.68 by $0.14. Essent Group had a net margin of 53.64% and a return on equity of 12.01%. The firm had revenue of $336.07 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $297.56 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.69 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 5.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Essent Group Ltd. will post 7.24 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. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 1st were issued a dividend of $0.35 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 1st. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.1%. Essent Group's dividend payout ratio is presently 19.94%.

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.

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