Essent Group Ltd. $ESNT Shares Sold by First Trust Advisors LP

First Trust Advisors LP trimmed its holdings in shares of Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT) by 22.4% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,071,145 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 309,129 shares during the quarter. First Trust Advisors LP’s holdings in Essent Group were worth $65,051,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of ESNT. Hantz Financial Services Inc. lifted its position in shares of Essent Group by 1,765.2% during the 2nd quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 429 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 406 shares during the last quarter. Summit Securities Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Essent Group in the 1st quarter worth $46,000. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Essent Group during the first quarter worth $99,000. Covestor Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Essent Group by 32.9% during the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,717 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $99,000 after purchasing an additional 425 shares during the last quarter. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Essent Group by 160.0% during the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,080 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $126,000 after purchasing an additional 1,280 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Essent Group

In related news, SVP Mary Lourdes Gibbons sold 4,000 shares of Essent Group stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.00, for a total transaction of $260,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 243,023 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,796,495. This trade represents a 1.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO David B. Weinstock sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.33, for a total value of $158,325.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 24,865 shares in the company, valued at $1,574,700.45. This trade represents a 9.14% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 21,229 shares of company stock valued at $1,364,140 in the last three months. 3.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have issued reports on ESNT shares. Barclays boosted their price objective on Essent Group from $59.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a “cautious” rating in a report on Monday, October 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded shares of Essent Group from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $66.00 to $65.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 7th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b+)” rating on shares of Essent Group in a research report on Monday, December 1st. Finally, DOWLING & PARTN cut shares of Essent Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 12th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $65.67.

Essent Group Price Performance

Shares of ESNT opened at $61.90 on Monday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $61.16 and its 200-day moving average is $60.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a current ratio of 1.68 and a quick ratio of 1.68. The company has a market capitalization of $5.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.01, a P/E/G ratio of 4.11 and a beta of 0.90. Essent Group Ltd. has a fifty-two week low of $51.61 and a fifty-two week high of $65.90.

Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 7th. The financial services provider reported $1.67 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.75 by ($0.08). The company had revenue of $311.83 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $316.84 million. Essent Group had a net margin of 55.63% and a return on equity of 12.40%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.65 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Essent Group Ltd. will post 6.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Essent Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 1st will be paid a $0.31 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 1st. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.0%. Essent Group’s dividend payout ratio is 18.05%.

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.