Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT) Shares Acquired by Tower Research Capital LLC TRC

Tower Research Capital LLC TRC lifted its stake in Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT - Free Report) by 167.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 13,517 shares of the financial services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 8,454 shares during the period. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC's holdings in Essent Group were worth $736,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. NFC Investments LLC grew its holdings in shares of Essent Group by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. NFC Investments LLC now owns 56,688 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $3,086,000 after acquiring an additional 175 shares during the period. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust grew its position in shares of Essent Group by 8.2% in the fourth quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 2,363 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $129,000 after purchasing an additional 180 shares during the last quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management raised its position in shares of Essent Group by 68.8% during the 4th quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management now owns 584 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 238 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in Essent Group by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 47,469 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $2,584,000 after buying an additional 287 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Forum Financial Management LP grew its holdings in Essent Group by 8.1% during the 4th quarter. Forum Financial Management LP now owns 3,912 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $213,000 after buying an additional 294 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.00% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on ESNT. Barclays downgraded Essent Group from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $69.00 to $58.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Essent Group from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $60.00 price target for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective 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. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $67.00 price target on shares of Essent Group in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $61.71.

Essent Group Stock Up 2.8 %

Shares of Essent Group stock traded up $1.60 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $58.64. The company's stock had a trading volume of 167,003 shares, compared to its average volume of 802,086. The business has a fifty day moving average of $55.82 and a 200 day moving average of $56.59. Essent Group Ltd. has a 1-year low of $51.61 and a 1-year high of $65.33. The company has a market capitalization of $6.09 billion, a PE ratio of 8.57, a P/E/G ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 0.80.

Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results 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). The company had revenue of $315.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $313.88 million. Essent Group had a net margin of 58.69% and a return on equity of 13.35%. Essent Group's quarterly revenue was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.64 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Essent Group Ltd. will post 6.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Essent Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a $0.31 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.11%. This is a positive change from Essent Group's previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. Essent Group's payout ratio is currently 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.