Short Interest in Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT) Grows By 31.4%

Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest in the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,800,000 shares, an increase of 31.4% from the February 28th total of 1,370,000 shares. Approximately 1.8% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 827,800 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.2 days.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Essent Group

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of ESNT. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Essent Group by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 12,367,101 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $673,265,000 after buying an additional 432,034 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in Essent Group by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,168,675 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $281,382,000 after acquiring an additional 200,284 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in Essent Group by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,206,325 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $270,425,000 after acquiring an additional 59,750 shares during the period. Polar Capital Holdings Plc raised its stake in shares of Essent Group by 14.9% during the fourth quarter. Polar Capital Holdings Plc now owns 2,700,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $146,988,000 after acquiring an additional 350,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Investors lifted its holdings in shares of Essent Group by 10.3% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 2,370,484 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $129,049,000 after purchasing an additional 221,950 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.00% of the company’s stock.

Essent Group Trading Up 0.9 %

NYSE ESNT traded up $0.54 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $58.26. 619,355 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 614,788. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $56.94 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $57.84. Essent Group has a fifty-two week low of $52.22 and a fifty-two week high of $65.34. The company has a market cap of $6.05 billion, a PE ratio of 8.52, a P/E/G ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 1.09.

Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 14th. The financial services provider reported $1.58 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%. Essent Group’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.64 EPS. Analysts forecast that Essent Group 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 was paid on Monday, March 24th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were given a dividend of $0.31 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.13%. This is a positive change from Essent Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. Essent Group’s payout ratio is currently 18.13%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Essent Group from $67.00 to $60.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, December 9th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $67.00 price objective on shares of Essent Group in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their target price on shares of Essent Group from $72.00 to $71.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Barclays lowered shares of Essent Group from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $69.00 to $58.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Essent Group presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $62.57.

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.