Intech Investment Management LLC Has $14.51 Million Stock Position in Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT)

Intech Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT - Free Report) by 884.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 266,537 shares of the financial services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 239,473 shares during the quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC owned approximately 0.25% of Essent Group worth $14,510,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Barclays PLC grew its holdings in Essent Group by 154.7% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 208,927 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $13,431,000 after purchasing an additional 126,899 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Essent Group by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,570,532 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $85,500,000 after purchasing an additional 19,387 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in Essent Group by 10.8% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,021,343 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $65,662,000 after purchasing an additional 99,604 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its holdings in Essent Group by 1.4% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,206,325 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $270,425,000 after purchasing an additional 59,750 shares during the period. Finally, Citigroup Inc. grew its holdings in Essent Group by 81.9% during the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 100,253 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $6,445,000 after purchasing an additional 45,126 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.00% of the company's stock.

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Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on ESNT. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on Essent Group from $72.00 to $71.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and set a $67.00 price objective on shares of Essent Group in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Barclays cut 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 report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Essent Group from $67.00 to $60.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Monday, December 9th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $62.57.

Essent Group Stock Performance

Shares of ESNT stock traded down $0.34 during trading on Friday, hitting $55.51. The company had a trading volume of 3,073,859 shares, compared to its average volume of 575,636. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 1.09. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $56.88 and its 200 day moving average price is $58.17. Essent Group Ltd. has a one year low of $52.22 and a one year high of $65.34.

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). The company had revenue of $315.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $313.88 million. Essent Group had a net margin of 58.69% and a return on equity of 13.35%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.64 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Essent Group Ltd. will post 6.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Essent Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.31 per share. This is an increase from Essent Group's previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.23%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Essent Group's payout ratio is currently 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.