Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT) Shares Acquired by South Dakota Investment Council

South Dakota Investment Council raised its holdings in shares of Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT) by 11.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 161,455 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 17,000 shares during the quarter. South Dakota Investment Council owned approximately 0.15% of Essent Group worth $8,790,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Essent Group by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,206,325 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $270,425,000 after acquiring an additional 59,750 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Essent Group by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,551,145 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $99,723,000 after acquiring an additional 12,431 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in shares of Essent Group by 10.8% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,021,343 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $65,662,000 after acquiring an additional 99,604 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its position in shares of Essent Group by 31.1% during the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 984,414 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $53,591,000 after acquiring an additional 233,636 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its position in shares of Essent Group by 132.4% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 424,542 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $27,294,000 after purchasing an additional 241,840 shares during the period. 93.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently issued reports on ESNT shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on Essent Group from $67.00 to $60.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $67.00 target price on shares of Essent Group in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on Essent Group from $68.00 to $60.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Barclays cut Essent Group from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $69.00 to $58.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price on Essent Group from $72.00 to $71.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $62.57.

Essent Group Stock Up 0.1 %

ESNT opened at $56.16 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $56.23 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $58.93. The company has a market cap of $5.83 billion, a PE ratio of 8.21, a P/E/G ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 1.11. Essent Group Ltd. has a 52 week low of $51.99 and a 52 week high of $65.33.

Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT) last issued its earnings results on Friday, February 14th. The financial services provider reported $1.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.67 by ($0.09). The business had revenue of $315.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $313.88 million. Essent Group had a return on equity of 13.35% and a net margin of 58.69%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.64 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Essent Group Ltd. will post 6.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Essent Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.31 per share. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.21%. This is an increase from Essent Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Essent Group’s dividend payout ratio is 16.37%.

Essent Group Profile

Essent Group Ltd., through its subsidiaries, provides private mortgage insurance and reinsurance for mortgages secured by residential properties located in the United States. Its mortgage insurance products include primary, pool, and master policy. The company also provides information technology maintenance and development services; customer support-related services; underwriting consulting; and contract underwriting services, as well as risk management products and title insurance and settlement services.