Legal & General Group Plc Buys New Stake in Essent Group Ltd. $ESNT

Legal & General Group Plc purchased a new position in shares of Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT) in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor purchased 127,365 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $8,187,000.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Sivia Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in Essent Group in the second quarter valued at about $346,000. M&T Bank Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Essent Group in the second quarter worth about $239,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Essent Group by 160.0% in the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,080 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $126,000 after buying an additional 1,280 shares during the period. Baird Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Essent Group in the second quarter worth about $211,000. Finally, Jump Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Essent Group in the second quarter valued at about $224,000. 93.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Essent Group Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ESNT opened at $68.14 on Wednesday. Essent Group Ltd. has a twelve month low of $55.34 and a twelve month high of $70.37. The company has a current ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 1.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. The company has a market capitalization of $6.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.76. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $66.44 and a 200-day simple moving average of $62.23.

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

Essent Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.35 per share. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 31st. Essent Group’s dividend payout ratio is 19.53%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Essent Group

In other news, Director Douglas J. Pauls sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.70, for a total value of $174,250.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 30,154 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,101,733.80. This trade represents a 7.66% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Vijay Bhasin sold 14,175 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.00, for a total transaction of $992,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 184,274 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,899,180. The trade was a 7.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 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.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently commented on ESNT shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Essent Group from $65.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, July 13th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Essent Group from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 10th. Roth Capital lifted their price objective on shares of Essent Group from $65.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 10th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Essent Group from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price 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. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Essent Group presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $71.86.

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.