16,700 Essent Group Ltd. $ESNT Shares Bought by VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al

VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al lifted its position in shares of Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT) by 9.2% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 199,179 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 16,700 shares during the period. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al’s holdings in Essent Group were worth $11,534,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Essent Group in the 2nd quarter worth about $798,836,000. Renaissancere Holdings Ltd. bought a new stake in Essent Group in the 2nd quarter valued at about $107,114,521. Deutsche Bank AG acquired a new position in Essent Group during the 2nd quarter valued at about $43,068,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new position in Essent Group during the 2nd quarter valued at about $41,041,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new position in Essent Group during the 2nd quarter valued at about $24,746,000. Institutional investors own 93.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have commented on ESNT shares. Bank of America cut shares of Essent Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $78.00 to $68.00 in a research report on Friday. Roth Capital lifted their price target on Essent Group from $65.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on Essent Group from $74.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, August 10th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Essent Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price objective 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 equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $70.75.

Essent Group Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ESNT opened at $67.01 on Friday. Essent Group Ltd. has a fifty-two week low of $55.34 and a fifty-two week high of $70.37. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $65.72 and its 200 day simple moving average is $62.92. 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 market cap of $6.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.35, a P/E/G ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 0.76.

Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, June 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The firm had revenue of $362.69 million during the quarter. Essent Group had a net margin of 51.45% and a return on equity of 11.91%. Equities analysts expect that Essent Group Ltd. will post 7.58 EPS for the current year.

Essent Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 31st were paid a $0.35 dividend. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 31st. Essent Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 19.53%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Douglas J. Pauls sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s 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 transaction, the director owned 30,154 shares in the company, valued at $2,101,733.80. This trade represents a 7.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Casale sold 798 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.01, for a total value of $55,867.98. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,038,893 shares in the company, valued at approximately $142,742,898.93. The trade was a 0.04% decrease in their position. 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. In the last quarter, insiders sold 70,146 shares of company stock worth $4,900,365. Company insiders own 3.60% of the company’s stock.

Essent Group Company Profile

Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE: ESNT) is a Bermuda-based holding company that provides private mortgage insurance and related risk-management services in the United States. Through its operating subsidiaries, the company helps protect mortgage lenders and investors against losses when borrowers default on residential mortgage loans.

Its principal business is mortgage insurance for low-down-payment conventional residential mortgages, enabling qualified borrowers to obtain home financing with less than a 20% down payment.