Jennison Associates LLC Acquires Shares of 381,067 Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT)

Jennison Associates LLC acquired a new stake in Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 381,067 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $20,097,000.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of ESNT. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Essent Group by 2.5% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,471,258 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $69,576,000 after buying an additional 35,484 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Essent Group by 1.0% in the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,453,168 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $68,720,000 after buying an additional 14,145 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Essent Group by 35.0% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,118,699 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $52,903,000 after buying an additional 289,937 shares during the last quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group raised its holdings in shares of Essent Group by 3.1% in the third quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 497,362 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $23,520,000 after buying an additional 15,054 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC raised its holdings in shares of Essent Group by 17.7% in the third quarter. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC now owns 441,753 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $20,890,000 after buying an additional 66,492 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ESNT has been the subject of a number of research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut shares of Essent Group from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their target price for the company from $58.00 to $61.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on shares of Essent Group from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, February 12th. StockNews.com cut shares of Essent Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 4th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on shares of Essent Group from $62.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $58.38.

Essent Group Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of Essent Group stock opened at $53.86 on Friday. Essent Group Ltd. has a 12-month low of $40.33 and a 12-month high of $59.90. The stock has a market cap of $5.76 billion, a PE ratio of 8.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.83 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a 50-day moving average of $54.97 and a two-hundred day moving average of $52.24.

Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT) last issued its earnings results on Friday, February 9th. The financial services provider reported $1.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.59 by $0.05. Essent Group had a net margin of 62.75% and a return on equity of 14.44%. The company had revenue of $297.30 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $286.18 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.37 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 29.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Essent Group Ltd. will post 6.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Essent Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 22nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 13th were issued a $0.28 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 12th. This is a boost from Essent Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.08%. Essent Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 17.23%.

Essent Group Company Profile

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.