Bessemer Group Inc. Acquires 13,021 Shares of Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT)

Bessemer Group Inc. raised its stake in Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT - Free Report) by 4.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 333,148 shares of the financial services provider's stock after buying an additional 13,021 shares during the period. Bessemer Group Inc. owned about 0.31% of Essent Group worth $18,136,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in ESNT. NFC Investments LLC boosted its holdings in Essent Group by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. NFC Investments LLC now owns 56,688 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $3,086,000 after acquiring an additional 175 shares during the last quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust lifted its position in shares of Essent Group by 8.2% in the 4th quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 2,363 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $129,000 after purchasing an additional 180 shares during the period. Picton Mahoney Asset Management boosted its stake in shares of Essent Group by 68.8% in the 4th quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management now owns 584 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 238 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in shares of Essent Group by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 47,469 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $2,584,000 after buying an additional 287 shares during the period. Finally, Cozad Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Essent Group by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Cozad Asset Management Inc. now owns 25,143 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,369,000 after purchasing an additional 311 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.00% of the company's stock.

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Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on ESNT shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Essent Group from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $60.00 price target for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $67.00 price objective on shares of Essent Group in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective on shares of Essent Group from $71.00 to $65.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Barclays lowered shares of Essent Group from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $69.00 to $58.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Essent Group has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $61.71.

Essent Group Stock Performance

Shares of ESNT traded down $0.02 on Tuesday, reaching $55.74. The stock had a trading volume of 457,675 shares, compared to its average volume of 835,367. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 0.80. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $56.20 and a 200-day simple moving average of $57.20. Essent Group Ltd. has a 12-month low of $51.61 and a 12-month high of $65.33.

Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 14th. The financial services provider reported $1.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.67 by ($0.09). Essent Group had a return on equity of 13.35% and a net margin of 58.69%. The business had revenue of $315.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $313.88 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.64 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Essent Group Ltd. will post 6.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Essent Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were given a $0.31 dividend. This is a positive change from Essent Group's previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.22%. Essent Group's payout ratio is 18.13%.

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.