Capstone Investment Advisors LLC Buys Shares of 15,031 Essent Group Ltd. $ESNT

Capstone Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 15,031 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $966,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its stake in Essent Group by 5.6% in the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 3,238 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $211,000 after purchasing an additional 172 shares during the last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Essent Group by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 16,584 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,078,000 after purchasing an additional 204 shares during the last quarter. Clearstead Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Essent Group by 26.4% during the 4th quarter. Clearstead Advisors LLC now owns 1,162 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $76,000 after purchasing an additional 243 shares during the last quarter. Trexquant Investment LP grew its holdings in shares of Essent Group by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Trexquant Investment LP now owns 38,436 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,499,000 after buying an additional 255 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tidal Investments LLC raised its position in shares of Essent Group by 1.2% in the second quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 21,801 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,324,000 after buying an additional 261 shares during the last quarter. 93.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on ESNT. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Essent Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 15th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of Essent Group from $74.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, August 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Essent Group from $65.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, July 13th. Roth Capital raised their target price on shares of Essent Group from $65.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 10th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their target price on Essent Group from $68.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, August 10th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Essent Group currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $71.86.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Vijay Bhasin sold 14,175 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.00, for a total transaction of $992,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 184,274 shares in the company, valued at $12,899,180. This trade represents a 7.14% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Douglas J. Pauls sold 2,500 shares of Essent Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.70, for a total transaction of $174,250.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 30,154 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,101,733.80. The trade was a 7.66% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 98,848 shares of company stock valued at $6,726,789 over the last three months. 3.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Essent Group Stock Down 0.4%

Shares of ESNT opened at $69.32 on Friday. Essent Group Ltd. has a 52-week low of $55.34 and a 52-week high of $70.37. The company has a quick ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 1.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $65.89 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $62.16. The company has a market capitalization of $6.23 billion, a PE ratio of 9.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 0.76.

Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, June 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.08 earnings per share for the quarter. Essent Group had a net margin of 51.45% and a return on equity of 11.91%. The firm had revenue of $362.69 million for the quarter. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Essent Group Ltd. will post 7.6 EPS for the current year.

Essent Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.35 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 31st. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.0%. Essent Group’s payout ratio is 19.53%.

About Essent Group

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.