Renaissancere Holdings Ltd. Buys New Stake in Essent Group Ltd. $ESNT

Renaissancere Holdings Ltd. purchased a new position in Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT - Free Report) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 1,666,374 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $107,114,521. Essent Group comprises about 0.0% of Renaissancere Holdings Ltd.'s holdings, making the stock its 2nd largest holding. Renaissancere Holdings Ltd. owned approximately 1.81% of Essent Group as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of ESNT. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Essent Group by 5.6% during the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 3,238 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $211,000 after purchasing an additional 172 shares during the last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC lifted its position 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 purchasing an additional 204 shares during the last quarter. Clearstead Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Essent Group by 26.4% in the fourth 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. Trexquant Investment LP increased its holdings in Essent Group by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Trexquant Investment LP now owns 38,436 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $2,499,000 after buying an additional 255 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tidal Investments LLC increased its stake 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 worth $1,324,000 after buying an additional 261 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.00% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have weighed in on ESNT. Roth Capital boosted their price target on Essent Group from $65.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, August 10th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Essent Group from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, August 10th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Essent Group from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, August 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Essent Group from $65.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, July 13th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their target price on Essent Group from $68.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Monday, August 10th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Essent Group currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $71.86.

Essent Group Stock Performance

Shares of Essent Group stock traded down $0.20 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $69.07. 100,324 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 723,646. The company has a quick ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 1.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.63, a P/E/G ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $65.89 and a 200 day moving average price of $62.16. Essent Group Ltd. has a one year low of $55.34 and a one year high of $70.37.

Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, June 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.08 earnings per share for the quarter. Essent Group had a return on equity of 11.91% and a net margin of 51.45%.The firm had revenue of $362.69 million for the quarter. On average, equities research analysts expect that Essent Group Ltd. will post 7.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Essent Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.35 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 31st. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.0%. Essent Group's payout ratio is 19.53%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Essent Group news, CFO David B. Weinstock sold 5,500 shares of the company'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 transaction of $349,305.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 35,494 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,254,223.94. This represents a 13.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, SVP Vijay Bhasin sold 14,175 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.00, for a total transaction of $992,250.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 184,274 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,899,180. The trade was a 7.14% 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 98,848 shares of company stock worth $6,726,789 in the last quarter. 3.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Essent Group 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.