Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT) Upgraded to “Buy” at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report sent to investors on Saturday morning.

ESNT has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Roth Capital boosted their target price on Essent Group from $65.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 10th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price target on shares of Essent Group from $68.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, August 10th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Essent Group from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Essent Group from $65.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, July 13th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on shares of Essent Group from $74.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, August 10th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $71.86.

Essent Group Price Performance

Shares of ESNT opened at $69.53 on Friday. Essent Group has a twelve month low of $55.34 and a twelve month high of $70.00. The company has a market capitalization of $6.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 0.76. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $63.96 and a 200 day moving average of $61.81. The company has a quick ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 1.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09.

Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, June 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. Essent Group had a return on equity of 11.91% and a net margin of 51.45%.The business had revenue of $362.69 million for the quarter. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Essent Group will post 7.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Essent Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 31st will be given a $0.35 dividend. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 31st. Essent Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 19.53%.

Insider Transactions at Essent Group

In other Essent Group news, CEO Mark Casale sold 29,329 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.35, for a total value of $1,916,650.15. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,184,143 shares in the company, valued at approximately $142,733,745.05. This represents a 1.33% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO David B. Weinstock sold 5,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.51, for a total value of $349,305.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 35,494 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,254,223.94. This trade represents a 13.42% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 40,320 shares of company stock valued at $2,625,422 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 3.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ESNT. Freestone Grove Partners LP bought a new position in shares of Essent Group during the second quarter worth $1,271,000. Odyssean LLC bought a new stake in Essent Group in the 2nd quarter valued at $3,273,000. Jupiter Topco LLC purchased a new stake in Essent Group in the 2nd quarter worth $2,401,000. Hsbc Holdings PLC purchased a new stake in Essent Group in the 2nd quarter worth $2,084,000. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board bought a new position in shares of Essent Group during the 2nd quarter valued at about $411,000. 93.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Essent Group

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.