GSA Capital Partners LLP Makes New $1.14 Million Investment in Essent Group Ltd. $ESNT

GSA Capital Partners LLP bought a new position in shares of Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 17,470 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,136,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC grew its stake in shares of Essent Group by 3.6% during the third quarter. Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC now owns 4,832 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $302,000 after buying an additional 166 shares during the last quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. grew its stake in shares of Essent Group by 45.5% during the third quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 624 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 195 shares during the last quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund grew its stake in shares of Essent Group by 0.4% during the third quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 51,945 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,302,000 after buying an additional 218 shares during the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC grew its stake in shares of Essent Group by 1.2% in the second quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 21,801 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,324,000 after purchasing an additional 261 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Signaturefd LLC grew its stake in shares of Essent Group by 14.6% in the fourth quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 2,332 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $152,000 after purchasing an additional 297 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.00% of the company’s stock.

Essent Group Stock Performance

Shares of Essent Group stock opened at $61.86 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 1.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. Essent Group Ltd. has a twelve month low of $55.22 and a twelve month high of $67.09. The stock has a market cap of $5.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.81, a P/E/G ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 0.81. The company’s fifty day moving average is $60.40 and its 200 day moving average is $61.81.

Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, May 8th. The financial services provider reported $1.82 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.68 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $336.07 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $297.56 million. Essent Group had a net margin of 53.64% and a return on equity of 12.01%. Essent Group’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.69 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Essent Group Ltd. will post 7.32 EPS for the current year.

Essent Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 1st will be given a dividend of $0.35 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 1st. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.3%. Essent Group’s dividend payout ratio is 19.94%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently weighed in on ESNT. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Essent Group from $65.00 to $63.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Essent Group from $65.00 to $64.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Essent Group from $61.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Essent Group currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $68.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Essent Group news, CEO Mark Casale sold 13,064 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.05, for a total transaction of $849,813.20. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,218,480 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $144,312,124. This represents a 0.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, SVP Mary Lourdes Gibbons sold 4,250 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.01, for a total transaction of $276,292.50. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 233,336 shares in the company, valued at $15,169,173.36. This trade represents a 1.79% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 25,814 shares of company stock worth $1,661,682 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 3.60% of the company’s stock.

Essent Group Profile

Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE: ESNT) is a publicly traded insurance holding company specializing in private mortgage insurance and mortgage reinsurance solutions. Through its primary subsidiary, Essent Guaranty, the company provides credit protection to mortgage lenders, helping mitigate the risk of borrower default on residential mortgage loans. Essent’s insurance policies enable lenders to offer low-down-payment programs, supporting homebuyers in achieving homeownership with reduced upfront equity requirements.

Beyond traditional mortgage insurance, Essent offers a suite of risk management and analytics services designed to help financial institutions monitor and manage mortgage portfolios.