Strs Ohio Trims Position in Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT)

Strs Ohio decreased its holdings in shares of Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT) by 4.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 30,700 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 1,400 shares during the period. Strs Ohio’s holdings in Essent Group were worth $1,619,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Essent Group in the 4th quarter worth $26,000. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust raised its holdings in Essent Group by 25.5% during the second quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 1,155 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $54,000 after purchasing an additional 235 shares in the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Essent Group by 43.9% in the first quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 1,668 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $68,000 after purchasing an additional 509 shares during the period. Quantbot Technologies LP purchased a new stake in Essent Group in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $77,000. Finally, Planned Solutions Inc. acquired a new position in Essent Group during the 4th quarter worth approximately $126,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.00% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the company. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on Essent Group from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered shares of Essent Group from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $58.00 to $61.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Essent Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 4th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective 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 investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Essent Group has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $58.38.

Essent Group Stock Up 1.5 %

NYSE:ESNT opened at $53.46 on Monday. Essent Group Ltd. has a 52-week low of $40.33 and a 52-week high of $59.90. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $54.86 and a 200-day simple moving average of $52.12. The company has a market capitalization of $5.71 billion, a PE ratio of 8.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 1.04.

Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT) last announced its earnings results on Friday, February 9th. The financial services provider reported $1.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.59 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $297.30 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $286.18 million. Essent Group had a net margin of 62.75% and a return on equity of 14.44%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 29.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.37 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Essent Group Ltd. will post 6.56 earnings per share for the current 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 dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.10%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 12th. This is a boost from Essent Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. Essent Group’s dividend payout ratio 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.