14,350 Shares in Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT) Purchased by Quantbot Technologies LP

Quantbot Technologies LP purchased a new stake in shares of Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund purchased 14,350 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $781,000.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Semanteon Capital Management LP acquired a new position in Essent Group in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,454,000. Xponance Inc. boosted its position in shares of Essent Group by 4.3% during the 4th quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 14,915 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $812,000 after acquiring an additional 619 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners increased its stake in Essent Group by 4.1% in the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 925,322 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $50,874,000 after purchasing an additional 36,081 shares during the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of Essent Group by 884.8% in the 4th quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 266,537 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $14,510,000 after buying an additional 239,473 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cozad Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Essent Group by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Cozad Asset Management Inc. now owns 25,143 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,369,000 after purchasing an additional 311 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.00% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on ESNT. Barclays lowered shares of Essent Group from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $69.00 to $58.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Essent Group from $67.00 to $60.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $67.00 target price on shares of Essent Group in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $62.57.

Essent Group Stock Performance

Shares of ESNT stock opened at $58.03 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 1.09. Essent Group Ltd. has a one year low of $52.22 and a one year high of $65.34. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $56.92 and a 200 day moving average price of $58.00.

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

Essent Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a $0.31 dividend. This is a positive change from Essent Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.14%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. Essent Group’s payout ratio is currently 18.13%.

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.