Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Grows Stake in Essent Group Ltd. $ESNT

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund increased its stake in shares of Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT) by 19.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 51,727 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 8,320 shares during the period. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund owned 0.05% of Essent Group worth $3,141,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC purchased a new stake in Essent Group during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $209,000. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Essent Group during the second quarter worth approximately $1,231,000. Penserra Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Essent Group in the 2nd quarter valued at $226,000. Savant Capital LLC purchased a new position in Essent Group in the 2nd quarter valued at $464,000. Finally, Versor Investments LP purchased a new position in Essent Group in the 2nd quarter valued at $1,825,000. 93.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO David B. Weinstock sold 2,500 shares of Essent Group stock in a transaction on Monday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.33, for a total transaction of $158,325.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 24,865 shares in the company, valued at $1,574,700.45. This trade represents a 9.14% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Mary Lourdes Gibbons sold 4,000 shares of Essent Group stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.00, for a total value of $260,000.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 243,023 shares in the company, valued at $15,796,495. This trade represents a 1.62% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 17,979 shares of company stock worth $1,164,460 in the last ninety days. 2.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ESNT has been the subject of several research reports. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Essent Group from $59.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a “cautious” rating in a research note on Monday, October 6th. DOWLING & PARTN lowered shares of Essent Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $60.00 price objective on Essent Group and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, August 8th. Compass Point reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Essent Group in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Essent Group in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Essent Group currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $65.67.

Essent Group Trading Down 0.9%

ESNT opened at $61.52 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a current ratio of 1.68. Essent Group Ltd. has a one year low of $51.61 and a one year high of $65.90. The company has a market cap of $5.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.96, a PEG ratio of 4.12 and a beta of 0.91. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $61.85 and its 200-day simple moving average is $60.02.

Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 7th. The financial services provider reported $1.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.75 by ($0.08). The business had revenue of $298.41 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $316.84 million. Essent Group had a net margin of 55.63% and a return on equity of 12.40%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.65 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Essent Group Ltd. will post 6.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Essent Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 10th. Investors of record on Monday, December 1st will be given a $0.31 dividend. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 1st. Essent Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 18.05%.

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.