Cooke & Bieler LP Sells 258,085 Shares of Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT)

Cooke & Bieler LP trimmed its position in shares of Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT - Free Report) by 10.0% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,329,235 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 258,085 shares during the period. Cooke & Bieler LP owned 2.18% of Essent Group worth $130,880,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Advisors Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Essent Group in the first quarter worth $32,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in Essent Group by 49.7% in the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,187 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $67,000 after buying an additional 394 shares during the period. QRG Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Essent Group during the fourth quarter worth $200,000. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC purchased a new position in shares of Essent Group in the first quarter valued at $215,000. Finally, O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Essent Group during the first quarter valued at approximately $220,000. 93.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have weighed in on ESNT. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on Essent Group from $61.00 to $67.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. BTIG Research increased their price objective on Essent Group from $61.00 to $64.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Essent Group from $63.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of Essent Group from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and raised their price target for the company from $65.00 to $70.00 in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Essent Group from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Essent Group currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $64.33.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Roy James Kasmar sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.81, for a total transaction of $294,050.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 27,140 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,596,103.40. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, Director Roy James Kasmar sold 5,000 shares of Essent Group stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.81, for a total value of $294,050.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 27,140 shares in the company, valued at $1,596,103.40. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Vijay Bhasin sold 11,188 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.14, for a total transaction of $672,846.32. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 199,359 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $11,989,450.26. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 2.90% of the company's stock.

Essent Group Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE:ESNT traded up $0.69 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $64.18. 390,431 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 500,628. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $59.96 and a 200-day moving average price of $57.04. Essent Group Ltd. has a twelve month low of $45.63 and a twelve month high of $64.44. The stock has a market cap of $6.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.71, a PEG ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.11.

Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 2nd. The financial services provider reported $1.91 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.68 by $0.23. Essent Group had a net margin of 61.31% and a return on equity of 14.40%. The business had revenue of $272.90 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $308.33 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.61 EPS. The business's revenue was up 9.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Essent Group Ltd. will post 7.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Essent Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 10th. Investors of record on Friday, August 30th will be issued a $0.28 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 30th. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.75%. Essent Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.94%.

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.