Wells Fargo & Company MN Boosts Stock Position in Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT)

Wells Fargo & Company MN lifted its position in shares of Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT - Free Report) by 27.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 62,778 shares of the financial services provider's stock after buying an additional 13,481 shares during the quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN owned about 0.06% of Essent Group worth $3,418,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of ESNT. Barclays PLC increased its position in shares of Essent Group by 154.7% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 208,927 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $13,431,000 after buying an additional 126,899 shares during the period. World Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in Essent Group during the third quarter worth $686,000. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in Essent Group by 2.9% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 47,182 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $2,993,000 after acquiring an additional 1,309 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in shares of Essent Group by 10.8% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,021,343 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $65,662,000 after buying an additional 99,604 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB raised its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 811 shares during the last quarter. 93.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Essent Group from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $60.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $67.00 price objective on shares of Essent Group in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Barclays downgraded Essent Group from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $69.00 to $58.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Finally, 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 note on Tuesday, April 8th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $61.71.

Essent Group Stock Performance

NYSE ESNT traded up $0.44 on Monday, hitting $55.98. 515,085 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 638,901. The business's fifty day moving average is $55.79 and its two-hundred day moving average is $56.63. Essent Group Ltd. has a 12 month low of $51.61 and a 12 month high of $65.34. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.18, a PEG ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 0.80.

Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 14th. The financial services provider reported $1.58 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.67 by ($0.09). Essent Group had a net margin of 58.69% and a return on equity of 13.35%. The firm had revenue of $315.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $313.88 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.64 earnings per share. Essent Group's revenue for the quarter was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Essent Group Ltd. will post 6.88 EPS 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 dividend of $0.31 per share. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.22%. This is a positive change from Essent Group's previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. Essent Group's dividend payout ratio is 18.13%.

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.