Invesco Ltd. Sells 188,445 Shares of Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT)

Invesco Ltd. decreased its position in Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT - Free Report) by 9.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,706,432 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 188,445 shares during the quarter. Invesco Ltd. owned approximately 1.61% of Essent Group worth $92,898,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Barclays PLC boosted its holdings in Essent Group by 154.7% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 208,927 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $13,431,000 after acquiring an additional 126,899 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Essent Group by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,570,532 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $85,500,000 after purchasing an additional 19,387 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in Essent Group by 10.8% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,021,343 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $65,662,000 after purchasing an additional 99,604 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV raised its holdings in Essent Group by 39.8% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 4,207 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $229,000 after buying an additional 1,198 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB raised its holdings in Essent Group by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 60,250 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $3,294,000 after buying an additional 811 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.00% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Barclays downgraded shares of Essent Group from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and reduced their price target for the company from $69.00 to $58.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $67.00 target price on shares of Essent Group in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Essent Group from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $60.00 price target on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price on Essent Group from $71.00 to $65.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $61.71.

Essent Group Price Performance

Shares of ESNT traded up $0.42 on Friday, reaching $55.05. The company's stock had a trading volume of 856,680 shares, compared to its average volume of 635,060. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $56.00 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $57.11. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.05, a PEG ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 0.80. Essent Group Ltd. has a 12-month low of $51.61 and a 12-month high of $65.34.

Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 14th. The financial services provider reported $1.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.67 by ($0.09). Essent Group had a net margin of 58.69% and a return on equity of 13.35%. The business had revenue of $315.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $313.88 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.64 EPS. The company's revenue was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Essent Group Ltd. will post 6.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Essent Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were given a dividend of $0.31 per share. This is a boost from Essent Group's previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.25%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. Essent Group's payout ratio is presently 18.13%.

Essent Group 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.