Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT) Shares Bought by State of Michigan Retirement System

State of Michigan Retirement System grew its position in Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT) by 2.0% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 26,133 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 500 shares during the period. State of Michigan Retirement System’s holdings in Essent Group were worth $1,555,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. AlphaMark Advisors LLC boosted its position in Essent Group by 13.2% during the 1st quarter. AlphaMark Advisors LLC now owns 5,773 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $344,000 after purchasing an additional 673 shares during the period. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Essent Group by 921.0% in the first quarter. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,952 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $295,000 after buying an additional 4,467 shares during the period. Fairman Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Essent Group in the fourth quarter valued at about $6,195,000. Quadrature Capital Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Essent Group during the 4th quarter valued at about $267,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position 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 in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.00% of the company’s stock.

Essent Group Stock Performance

ESNT opened at $55.41 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $5.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.38, a PEG ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a 50-day moving average of $55.95 and a 200-day moving average of $54.86. Essent Group Ltd. has a 1-year low of $44.96 and a 1-year high of $59.90.

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

Essent Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 10th. Investors of record on Friday, May 31st were paid a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.02%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 31st. Essent Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.94%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Essent Group news, Director Douglas J. Pauls sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.12, for a total transaction of $140,300.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 27,112 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,521,525.44. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

About Essent Group

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.