Voya Investment Management LLC Sells 74,863 Shares of Essent Group Ltd. $ESNT

Voya Investment Management LLC cut its holdings in shares of Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT) by 32.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 153,983 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 74,863 shares during the period. Voya Investment Management LLC owned about 0.16% of Essent Group worth $9,787,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Jane Street Group LLC raised its stake in Essent Group by 760.5% during the first quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 367,460 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $21,210,000 after acquiring an additional 324,757 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its stake in shares of Essent Group by 184.8% in the 2nd quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 343,101 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $20,837,000 after purchasing an additional 222,613 shares in the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Essent Group by 2.0% during the 1st quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 271,788 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $15,688,000 after purchasing an additional 5,251 shares during the last quarter. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Essent Group during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $314,000. Finally, Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC increased its position in Essent Group by 169.6% during the 2nd quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 15,499 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $959,000 after purchasing an additional 9,751 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.00% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on ESNT. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b+)” rating on shares of Essent Group in a report on Monday. Barclays boosted their price objective on Essent Group from $59.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a “cautious” rating in a research report on Monday, October 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on Essent Group from $71.00 to $73.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 18th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered Essent Group from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price target for the company from $66.00 to $65.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 7th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $66.67.

Essent Group Price Performance

Shares of ESNT opened at $65.84 on Wednesday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $62.08 and a 200-day moving average of $61.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a current ratio of 1.68 and a quick ratio of 1.68. The company has a market capitalization of $6.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.38 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 released its earnings results on Friday, November 7th. The financial services provider reported $1.67 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.75 by ($0.08). The firm had revenue of $311.83 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $316.84 million. Essent Group had a net margin of 55.63% and a return on equity of 12.40%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.65 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Essent Group Ltd. will post 6.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Essent Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 1st were issued a $0.31 dividend. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 1st. Essent Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 18.05%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Essent Group

In other news, SVP Mary Lourdes Gibbons sold 4,352 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 owned 237,896 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,939,032. This represents a 1.80% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Roy James Kasmar sold 3,250 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.44, for a total value of $199,680.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 23,573 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,448,325.12. The trade was a 12.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders own 3.40% 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.