Principal Financial Group Inc. Reduces Position in Essent Group Ltd. $ESNT

Principal Financial Group Inc. decreased its position in Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT) by 10.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 804,521 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 93,764 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Essent Group were worth $51,135,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Sivia Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in Essent Group in the second quarter valued at $346,000. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS boosted its position in shares of Essent Group by 1.2% in the second quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS now owns 42,200 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,563,000 after acquiring an additional 500 shares during the last quarter. Inspire Investing LLC grew its holdings in Essent Group by 7.9% in the second quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 6,427 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $390,000 after purchasing an additional 472 shares during the period. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC grew its holdings in Essent Group by 3.5% in the second quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 23,748 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,442,000 after purchasing an additional 814 shares during the period. Finally, CWM LLC increased its position in Essent Group by 163.7% during the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 20,075 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,219,000 after purchasing an additional 12,462 shares during the last quarter. 93.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Roy James Kasmar sold 3,250 shares of Essent Group stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.44, for a total transaction of $199,680.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 23,573 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,448,325.12. The trade was a 12.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Mary Lourdes Gibbons sold 4,352 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.00, for a total value of $291,584.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 237,896 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,939,032. This trade represents a 1.80% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders own 2.90% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on ESNT. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Essent Group from $65.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, January 12th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on Essent Group from $71.00 to $73.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 18th. Roth Mkm raised their price objective on Essent Group from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $70.00 price objective on shares of Essent Group in a research note on Tuesday, January 6th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b+)” rating on shares of Essent Group in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Essent Group presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $69.29.

Essent Group Stock Performance

Essent Group stock opened at $64.11 on Thursday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $63.44 and its 200 day moving average price is $61.97. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.20 billion, a PE ratio of 9.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.00 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a quick ratio of 1.68 and a current ratio of 1.68. Essent Group Ltd. has a one year low of $51.61 and a one year high of $67.09.

Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 7th. The financial services provider reported $1.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.75 by ($0.08). Essent Group had a net margin of 55.63% and a return on equity of 12.40%. The firm had revenue of $311.83 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $316.84 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.65 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Essent Group Ltd. will post 6.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Essent Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 10th. Investors of record on Monday, December 1st were paid a dividend of $0.31 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 1st. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. Essent Group’s payout ratio is 18.05%.

Essent Group Company Profile

Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE: ESNT) is a publicly traded insurance holding company specializing in private mortgage insurance and mortgage reinsurance solutions. Through its primary subsidiary, Essent Guaranty, the company provides credit protection to mortgage lenders, helping mitigate the risk of borrower default on residential mortgage loans. Essent’s insurance policies enable lenders to offer low-down-payment programs, supporting homebuyers in achieving homeownership with reduced upfront equity requirements.

Beyond traditional mortgage insurance, Essent offers a suite of risk management and analytics services designed to help financial institutions monitor and manage mortgage portfolios.