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

State of Michigan Retirement System decreased its position in shares of Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT) by 1.5% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 25,733 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 400 shares during the period. State of Michigan Retirement System’s holdings in Essent Group were worth $1,446,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of ESNT. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Essent Group by 3.8% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 11,917,819 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $709,229,000 after acquiring an additional 440,385 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Essent Group by 6.9% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,025,836 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $212,326,000 after purchasing an additional 258,246 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Essent Group by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,496,741 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $78,938,000 after purchasing an additional 25,483 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in Essent Group by 10.7% during the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,247,184 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $74,220,000 after purchasing an additional 120,881 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Essent Group during the 4th quarter worth about $60,678,000. 93.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Essent Group news, Director Roy James Kasmar sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.81, for a total value of $294,050.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 27,140 shares in the company, valued at $1,596,103.40. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other news, Director Roy James Kasmar sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.81, for a total transaction of $294,050.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 27,140 shares in the company, valued at $1,596,103.40. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Vijay Bhasin sold 11,188 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.14, for a total transaction of $672,846.32. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 199,359 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,989,450.26. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on ESNT shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Essent Group from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on shares of Essent Group from $61.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of Essent Group from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $65.00 to $70.00 in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Essent Group from $63.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on Essent Group from $57.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 22nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $64.33.

Essent Group Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of Essent Group stock opened at $63.72 on Friday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $59.38 and a 200-day simple moving average of $56.69. The stock has a market cap of $6.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.64, a PEG ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 1.11. Essent Group Ltd. has a 12-month low of $45.63 and a 12-month high of $64.05.

Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 2nd. The financial services provider reported $1.91 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.68 by $0.23. The firm had revenue of $272.90 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $308.33 million. Essent Group had a net margin of 61.40% and a return on equity of 14.24%. Essent Group’s quarterly revenue was up 9.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.61 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Essent Group Ltd. will post 6.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Essent Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 10th. Investors of record on Friday, August 30th will be given a $0.28 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 30th. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.76%. Essent Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.94%.

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.