Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC Buys 42,197 Shares of Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT)

Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT) by 94.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 86,819 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 42,197 shares during the quarter. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC owned about 0.08% of Essent Group worth $4,579,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in ESNT. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust raised its holdings in Essent Group by 25.5% in the 2nd quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 1,155 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $54,000 after acquiring an additional 235 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in Essent Group by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 48,198 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,542,000 after acquiring an additional 267 shares during the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans raised its holdings in Essent Group by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 56,139 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,958,000 after acquiring an additional 275 shares during the last quarter. Forum Financial Management LP raised its stake in Essent Group by 5.3% during the 1st quarter. Forum Financial Management LP now owns 5,589 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $230,000 after buying an additional 280 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board raised its stake in Essent Group by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 41,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,690,000 after buying an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. 93.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Essent Group from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered shares of Essent Group from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $58.00 to $61.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. StockNews.com lowered shares of Essent Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, March 4th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of Essent Group from $62.00 to $64.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy 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 $58.38.

Essent Group Stock Performance

Shares of Essent Group stock opened at $53.42 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $5.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.22, a P/E/G ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a fifty day moving average of $54.86 and a 200 day moving average of $52.05. Essent Group Ltd. has a fifty-two week low of $40.33 and a fifty-two week high of $59.90.

Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT) last issued its earnings results on Friday, February 9th. The financial services provider reported $1.64 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.59 by $0.05. Essent Group had a net margin of 62.75% and a return on equity of 14.44%. The company had revenue of $297.30 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $286.18 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.37 EPS. Essent Group’s quarterly revenue was up 29.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Essent Group Ltd. will post 6.56 EPS for the current year.

Essent Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 22nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 13th were issued a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.10%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 12th. This is an increase from Essent Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. Essent Group’s dividend payout ratio is 17.23%.

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.