Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT) Short Interest Up 11.1% in June

Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT) saw a large increase in short interest in the month of June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totalling 917,600 shares, an increase of 11.1% from the May 31st total of 825,600 shares. Currently, 0.9% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 478,200 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.9 days.

Insider Transactions at Essent Group

In related news, Director Douglas J. Pauls sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.12, for a total transaction of $140,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 27,112 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,521,525.44. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Essent Group by 1.0% in the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,453,168 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $68,720,000 after buying an additional 14,145 shares in the last quarter. Fairman Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Essent Group in the fourth quarter valued at about $6,195,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Essent Group by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 11,477,434 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $605,320,000 after purchasing an additional 75,825 shares during the last quarter. NFC Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Essent Group in the fourth quarter valued at about $2,976,000. Finally, True Wealth Design LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Essent Group in the fourth quarter valued at about $837,000. 93.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Essent Group Trading Down 1.2 %

NYSE ESNT traded down $0.68 on Wednesday, hitting $55.90. 174,546 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 511,328. The company has a market cap of $5.96 billion, a PE ratio of 8.46, a PEG ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.11. Essent Group has a 12 month low of $44.96 and a 12 month high of $59.90. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $55.91 and a 200-day moving average of $54.85.

Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT) last issued its earnings results on Friday, May 3rd. The financial services provider reported $1.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.56 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $298.40 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $298.69 million. Essent Group had a net margin of 61.40% and a return on equity of 14.24%. Essent Group’s revenue was up 16.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.59 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Essent Group will post 6.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Essent Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 10th. Investors of record on Friday, May 31st were paid a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.00%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 31st. Essent Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 16.94%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have issued reports on ESNT shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of Essent Group from $62.00 to $64.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Essent Group from $57.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut shares of Essent Group from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price target for the company from $58.00 to $61.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on shares of Essent Group from $64.00 to $61.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, May 6th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Essent Group presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $59.25.

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.