SG Americas Securities LLC Grows Position in Essent Group Ltd. $ESNT

Key Points

• SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its stake in Essent by 883.6% in Q4, adding 84,089 shares to hold 93,606 shares worth about $6.09 million (roughly 0.10% of the company).
• Essent missed Q4 EPS ($1.60 vs. $1.74 est.) with revenue roughly in line, and raised its quarterly dividend to $0.35 (annualized $1.40, ~2.4% yield; payout ratio ~20%).
• Analysts are mixed: the consensus rating is "Hold" with a $68.43 target, while recent price-target moves range roughly from $63 to $75 and include both Buy and Hold opinions.

SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its holdings in Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT - Free Report) by 883.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 93,606 shares of the financial services provider's stock after buying an additional 84,089 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC owned approximately 0.10% of Essent Group worth $6,085,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd acquired a new stake in Essent Group in the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. Measured Wealth Private Client Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Essent Group during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $27,000. Hantz Financial Services Inc. grew its position 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 valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 195 shares in the last quarter. Danske Bank A S purchased a new stake in shares of Essent Group in the third quarter valued at approximately $57,000. Finally, Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Essent Group by 27.8% in the third quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 947 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $60,000 after purchasing an additional 206 shares during the last quarter. 93.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Weiss Ratings reissued a "buy (b+)" rating on shares of Essent Group in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Barclays cut their target price on Essent Group from $65.00 to $63.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Essent Group from $65.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, January 12th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of Essent Group from $71.00 to $73.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a report on Thursday, December 18th. Finally, Roth Mkm raised their price objective on shares of Essent Group from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, January 2nd. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $68.43.

Essent Group Trading Up 0.3%

Shares of Essent Group stock opened at $58.36 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $60.65 and a 200 day moving average of $61.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a current ratio of 1.20. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.47, a PEG ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 0.91. Essent Group Ltd. has a fifty-two week low of $51.61 and a fifty-two week high of $67.09.

Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Saturday, February 14th. The financial services provider reported $1.60 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.74 by ($0.14). The business had revenue of $312.40 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $312.62 million. Essent Group had a net margin of 54.72% and a return on equity of 12.09%. The business's revenue for the quarter was down .8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.58 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Essent Group Ltd. will post 6.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Essent Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 23rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 13th were given a $0.35 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 13th. This is an increase from Essent Group's previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.4%. Essent Group's dividend payout ratio is currently 20.32%.

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.

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