Essent Group Ltd. $ESNT Position Boosted by Bessemer Group Inc.

Bessemer Group Inc. grew its holdings in Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT) by 16.6% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 422,825 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 60,335 shares during the period. Bessemer Group Inc.’s holdings in Essent Group were worth $26,875,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Jackson Creek Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Essent Group during the 3rd quarter worth about $1,398,000. Cooke & Bieler LP grew its stake in shares of Essent Group by 19.6% in the 3rd quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP now owns 1,938,688 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $123,223,000 after buying an additional 318,318 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Essent Group by 531.1% in the third quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 25,157 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,599,000 after buying an additional 21,171 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its position in Essent Group by 184.8% during the second quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 343,101 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $20,837,000 after acquiring an additional 222,613 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Savant Capital LLC bought a new position in Essent Group during the second quarter valued at approximately $464,000. 93.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have commented on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $70.00 target price on shares of Essent Group in a research report on Tuesday, January 6th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b+)” rating on shares of Essent Group in a research note on Monday, December 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Essent Group from $65.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, January 12th. Roth Mkm increased their target price on shares of Essent Group from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 2nd. Finally, Barclays reduced their price target on Essent Group from $66.00 to $65.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 6th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $69.29.

Essent Group Price Performance

NYSE ESNT opened at $65.36 on Friday. Essent Group Ltd. has a 1 year low of $51.61 and a 1 year high of $67.09. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $63.54 and a 200 day simple moving average of $62.06. The company has a current ratio of 1.68, a quick ratio of 1.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. The company has a market cap of $6.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.51, a P/E/G ratio of 4.14 and a beta of 0.90.

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

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Mary Lourdes Gibbons sold 4,352 shares of Essent Group 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 transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 237,896 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,939,032. The trade was a 1.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Roy James Kasmar sold 3,250 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.44, for a total value of $199,680.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 23,573 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,448,325.12. This represents a 12.12% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Company insiders own 2.90% of the company’s stock.

About Essent Group

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.