XTX Topco Ltd Buys Shares of 4,307 Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT)

XTX Topco Ltd purchased a new position in Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 4,307 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $234,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Barclays PLC grew its position in shares of Essent Group by 154.7% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 208,927 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $13,431,000 after acquiring an additional 126,899 shares during the last quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Essent Group in the third quarter valued at approximately $686,000. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Essent Group by 2.9% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 47,182 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,993,000 after buying an additional 1,309 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in shares of Essent Group by 10.8% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,021,343 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $65,662,000 after buying an additional 99,604 shares during the period. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB grew its holdings in Essent Group by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 60,250 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,294,000 after buying an additional 811 shares in the last quarter. 93.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ESNT has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $67.00 price target on shares of Essent Group in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their target price on shares of Essent Group from $71.00 to $65.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. 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 note on Monday, January 6th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Essent Group from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $60.00 target price on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $61.71.

Essent Group Stock Down 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE ESNT opened at $55.55 on Friday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $55.79 and a 200-day simple moving average of $56.72. The company has a market cap of $5.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.12, a P/E/G ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 0.80. Essent Group Ltd. has a 12 month low of $51.61 and a 12 month high of $65.34.

Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT) last announced its earnings results 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). Essent Group had a return on equity of 13.35% and a net margin of 58.69%. The firm had revenue of $315.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $313.88 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.64 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Essent Group Ltd. will post 6.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Essent Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a dividend of $0.31 per share. This is an increase from Essent Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.23%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. Essent Group’s payout ratio is 18.13%.

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.