Essent Group Ltd. $ESNT Holdings Increased by Bessemer Group Inc.

Bessemer Group Inc. increased its stake in Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT) by 16.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 422,825 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 60,335 shares during the period. Bessemer Group Inc. owned approximately 0.43% of Essent Group worth $26,875,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Hantz Financial Services Inc. lifted its position in Essent Group by 45.5% in the third quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 624 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 195 shares during the period. Allianz Asset Management GmbH increased its position in shares of Essent Group by 106.8% during the 3rd quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 26,814 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,704,000 after purchasing an additional 13,847 shares during the period. Jackson Creek Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Essent Group in the 3rd quarter worth $1,398,000. State of Wyoming acquired a new stake in shares of Essent Group in the third quarter valued at $132,000. Finally, Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Essent Group by 3.6% in the third quarter. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC now owns 35,813 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,276,000 after buying an additional 1,260 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on ESNT shares. Barclays lowered their target price on Essent Group from $66.00 to $65.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Essent Group from $65.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, January 12th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of Essent Group from $71.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $70.00 target price on shares of Essent Group in a research note on Tuesday, January 6th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b+)” rating on shares of Essent Group in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Essent Group has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $69.29.

Essent Group Trading Up 0.2%

Shares of ESNT opened at $65.36 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $63.54 and its 200 day moving average price is $62.06. The company has a current ratio of 1.68, a quick ratio of 1.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.51, a P/E/G ratio of 4.14 and a beta of 0.90. Essent Group Ltd. has a 1-year low of $51.61 and a 1-year high of $67.09.

Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT) last announced its earnings results on Friday, November 7th. The financial services provider reported $1.67 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.75 by ($0.08). The firm had revenue of $311.83 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $316.84 million. Essent Group had a return on equity of 12.40% and a net margin of 55.63%.The business’s quarterly revenue was down 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.65 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Essent Group Ltd. will post 6.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Essent Group news, SVP Mary Lourdes Gibbons sold 4,352 shares of Essent Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.00, for a total transaction of $291,584.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 237,896 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,939,032. The trade was a 1.80% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Roy James Kasmar sold 3,250 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.44, for a total transaction of $199,680.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 23,573 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,448,325.12. This trade represents a 12.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Company insiders own 2.90% of the company’s stock.

Essent Group Profile

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.