Schroder Investment Management Group Cuts Stake in Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT)

Schroder Investment Management Group cut its stake in Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT) by 83.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 58,790 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 306,843 shares during the quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group owned approximately 0.06% of Essent Group worth $3,182,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of ESNT. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Essent Group in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $312,000. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Essent Group in the 4th quarter valued at $69,364,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in Essent Group by 7.4% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,097,180 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $59,730,000 after purchasing an additional 75,837 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Essent Group by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 12,367,101 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $673,265,000 after purchasing an additional 432,034 shares during the last quarter. Finally, LPL Financial LLC grew its holdings in shares of Essent Group by 29.6% during the fourth quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 12,371 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $673,000 after buying an additional 2,823 shares in the last quarter. 93.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on ESNT. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $67.00 price target on shares of Essent Group in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Essent Group from $67.00 to $60.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, December 9th. Barclays downgraded Essent Group from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $69.00 to $58.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their target price on Essent Group from $72.00 to $71.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $62.57.

Essent Group Trading Down 4.0 %

ESNT opened at $54.49 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $5.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.97, a PEG ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 0.80. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $56.88 and its 200 day moving average price is $57.73. Essent Group Ltd. has a 12-month low of $52.22 and a 12-month high of $65.34.

Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 14th. The financial services provider reported $1.58 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.67 by ($0.09). Essent Group had a net margin of 58.69% and a return on equity of 13.35%. The business had revenue of $315.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $313.88 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.64 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Essent Group Ltd. will post 6.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Essent Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a $0.31 dividend. This is a boost from Essent Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.28%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. Essent Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 18.13%.

Essent Group 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.