Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT) Stake Increased by JPMorgan Chase & Co.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in shares of Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT - Free Report) by 7.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,097,180 shares of the financial services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 75,837 shares during the quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. owned about 1.03% of Essent Group worth $59,730,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Barclays PLC boosted its stake in Essent Group by 154.7% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 208,927 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $13,431,000 after purchasing an additional 126,899 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $85,500,000 after buying an additional 19,387 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 59,750 shares during the period. KBC Group NV grew its holdings in Essent Group by 39.8% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 4,207 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $229,000 after buying an additional 1,198 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position in Essent Group by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 60,250 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $3,294,000 after acquiring an additional 811 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 93.00% of the company's stock.

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Essent Group Price Performance

Shares of ESNT traded up $2.62 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $55.53. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,371,998 shares, compared to its average volume of 627,943. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $56.40 and a 200 day moving average price of $57.42. Essent Group Ltd. has a fifty-two week low of $51.32 and a fifty-two week high of $65.34. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.12, a PEG ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 0.80.

Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT - Get Free Report) last posted 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 analyst estimates of $313.88 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.64 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Essent Group Ltd. will post 6.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Essent Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a dividend of $0.31 per share. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.23%. This is an increase from Essent Group's previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. Essent Group's dividend payout ratio is currently 18.13%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on ESNT. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $67.00 price target on shares of Essent Group in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their target price on shares of Essent Group from $71.00 to $65.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised 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. Finally, Barclays lowered shares of Essent Group from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $69.00 to $58.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $61.71.

About Essent Group

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.