AlphaMark Advisors LLC Has $344,000 Stock Position in Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT)

AlphaMark Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT) by 13.2% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 5,773 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 673 shares during the period. AlphaMark Advisors LLC’s holdings in Essent Group were worth $344,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Essent Group by 921.0% in the 1st quarter. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,952 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $295,000 after purchasing an additional 4,467 shares during the period. Fairman Group LLC acquired a new stake in Essent Group during the fourth quarter worth approximately $6,195,000. Quadrature Capital Ltd acquired a new stake in Essent Group during the fourth quarter worth approximately $267,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Essent Group by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 11,477,434 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $605,320,000 after acquiring an additional 75,825 shares during the period. Finally, True Wealth Design LLC acquired a new position in Essent Group in the 4th quarter valued at $837,000. 93.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. StockNews.com cut Essent Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered shares of Essent Group from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their target price for the company from $58.00 to $61.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Essent Group from $57.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on shares of Essent Group from $64.00 to $61.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, May 6th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on Essent Group from $62.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $59.25.

Insider Transactions at Essent Group

In related news, Director Douglas J. Pauls sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.12, for a total value of $140,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 27,112 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,521,525.44. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Essent Group Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ESNT opened at $55.74 on Tuesday. Essent Group Ltd. has a one year low of $44.96 and a one year high of $59.90. The company has a market cap of $5.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.43, a PEG ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.11. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $55.79 and a 200 day simple moving average of $54.78.

Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 3rd. The financial services provider reported $1.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.56 by $0.14. Essent Group had a net margin of 61.40% and a return on equity of 14.24%. The company had revenue of $298.40 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $298.69 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.59 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Essent Group Ltd. will post 6.73 EPS for the current year.

Essent Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 31st were paid a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.01%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 31st. Essent Group’s payout ratio is 16.94%.

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.