American Century Companies Inc. Buys 91,595 Shares of Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT)

American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in shares of Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT) by 12.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 839,455 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 91,595 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. owned approximately 0.79% of Essent Group worth $45,700,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in ESNT. Mainstream Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Essent Group in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Picton Mahoney Asset Management increased its position in shares of Essent Group by 68.8% during the fourth quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management now owns 584 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 238 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE raised its stake in shares of Essent Group by 53.3% in the fourth quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 1,125 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $61,000 after purchasing an additional 391 shares in the last quarter. R Squared Ltd bought a new position in Essent Group in the fourth quarter worth $63,000. Finally, Advisors Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in Essent Group by 53.9% during the third quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,362 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $88,000 after buying an additional 477 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Essent Group Trading Up 0.9 %

NYSE ESNT opened at $58.55 on Friday. Essent Group Ltd. has a 1-year low of $52.22 and a 1-year high of $65.34. The company has a 50 day moving average of $56.94 and a 200-day moving average of $58.01. The firm has a market cap of $6.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.56, a PEG 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 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.67 by ($0.09). The business 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%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.64 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Essent Group Ltd. will post 6.88 earnings per share for the current 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 given a dividend of $0.31 per share. This is an increase from Essent Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.12%. Essent Group’s dividend payout ratio is 18.13%.

Essent Group Company Profile

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.