Strs Ohio Buys Shares of 15,500 Essent Group Ltd. $ESNT

Key Points

• Strs Ohio has invested approximately $895,000 by acquiring 15,500 shares of Essent Group Ltd. in Q1 2023.
• Essent Group's recent earnings report showed an EPS of $1.93, exceeding estimates, with revenue up by 2.0% year-over-year.
• The stock has a current price target of $63.67 from analysts, with a moderate buy rating supported by four buy and four hold ratings.

Strs Ohio bought a new stake in shares of Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 15,500 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $895,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in ESNT. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Essent Group by 1,272.6% in the 1st quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 970,969 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $56,044,000 after purchasing an additional 900,229 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP acquired a new position in shares of Essent Group in the 1st quarter worth approximately $41,084,000. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in shares of Essent Group in the 1st quarter worth approximately $34,060,000. Millennium Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Essent Group by 670.5% in the 1st quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 663,332 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $38,288,000 after purchasing an additional 577,245 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Essent Group by 64.2% in the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 848,282 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $48,581,000 after purchasing an additional 331,535 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.00% of the company's stock.

Essent Group Trading Down 0.4%

Shares of ESNT traded down $0.24 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $65.24. The stock had a trading volume of 2,326,089 shares, compared to its average volume of 518,377. Essent Group Ltd. has a fifty-two week low of $51.61 and a fifty-two week high of $65.90. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $60.51 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $58.48. The firm has a market cap of $6.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09.

Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 8th. The financial services provider reported $1.93 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.68 by $0.25. The business had revenue of $319.14 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $317.46 million. Essent Group had a net margin of 56.36% and a return on equity of 12.66%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 2.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.91 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Essent Group Ltd. will post 6.88 EPS for the current year.

Essent Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 10th. Investors of record on Friday, August 29th were issued a dividend of $0.31 per share. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 29th. Essent Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 18.10%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on ESNT. DOWLING & PARTN cut shares of Essent Group from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 12th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Essent Group from $58.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut shares of Essent Group from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Essent Group in a report on Friday, August 8th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group set a $60.00 target price on shares of Essent Group and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, August 8th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $63.67.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Essent Group news, Director William Spiegel sold 6,451 shares of Essent Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.74, for a total value of $404,735.74. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 26,252 shares in the company, valued at $1,647,050.48. The trade was a 19.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Mary Lourdes Gibbons sold 3,760 shares of Essent Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.00, for a total transaction of $233,120.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 247,023 shares of the company's stock, valued at $15,315,426. This trade represents a 1.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 14,950 shares of company stock worth $931,001. 2.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Essent Group Company Profile

Essent Group Ltd., through its subsidiaries, provides private mortgage insurance and reinsurance for mortgages secured by residential properties located in the United States. Its mortgage insurance products include primary, pool, and master policy. The company also provides information technology maintenance and development services; customer support-related services; underwriting consulting; and contract underwriting services, as well as risk management products and title insurance and settlement services.