New Age Alpha Advisors LLC Purchases Shares of 5,733 Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT)

New Age Alpha Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund acquired 5,733 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $312,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Norges Bank bought a new position in Essent Group during the 4th quarter worth about $69,364,000. Cooke & Bieler LP boosted its position in shares of Essent Group by 45.9% during the fourth quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP now owns 2,228,925 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $121,343,000 after buying an additional 700,730 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Essent Group by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 12,367,101 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $673,265,000 after buying an additional 432,034 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its position in Essent Group by 132.4% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 424,542 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $27,294,000 after buying an additional 241,840 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Essent Group by 884.8% in the 4th quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 266,537 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $14,510,000 after acquiring an additional 239,473 shares in the last quarter. 93.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Essent Group Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE ESNT opened at $58.26 on Wednesday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $56.94 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $57.84. The company has a market cap of $6.05 billion, a PE ratio of 8.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 1.09. Essent Group Ltd. has a twelve month low of $52.22 and a twelve month high of $65.34.

Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 14th. The financial services provider reported $1.58 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.67 by ($0.09). Essent Group had a net margin of 58.69% and a return on equity of 13.35%. The business had revenue of $315.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $313.88 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.64 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Essent Group Ltd. will post 6.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Essent Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 24th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a $0.31 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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 dividend payout ratio is 18.13%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price target on shares of Essent Group from $72.00 to $71.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Essent Group from $67.00 to $60.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $67.00 price objective on shares of Essent Group in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Barclays lowered Essent Group from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $69.00 to $58.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average 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.