Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT) Director Douglas Pauls Sells 2,500 Shares

Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT) Director Douglas Pauls sold 2,500 shares of Essent Group stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.70, for a total transaction of $174,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 30,154 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,101,733.80. This represents a 7.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link.

Essent Group Stock Performance

Essent Group stock traded up $0.62 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $69.09. 417,810 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 728,460. Essent Group Ltd. has a fifty-two week low of $55.34 and a fifty-two week high of $70.37. The company has a current ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 1.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. The firm has a market cap of $6.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.64, a PEG ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 0.76. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $65.27 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $62.06.

Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, June 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.08 EPS for the quarter. Essent Group had a net margin of 51.45% and a return on equity of 11.91%. The company had revenue of $362.69 million for the quarter. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Essent Group Ltd. will post 7.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Essent Group Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ESNT has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Essent Group from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, August 10th. Roth Capital boosted their price target on shares of 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 upped their price target on shares of Essent Group from $68.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, August 10th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Essent Group from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on shares of Essent Group from $74.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, August 10th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Essent Group presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $71.86.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Essent Group

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in Essent Group during the second quarter valued at approximately $798,836,000. California State Teachers Retirement System grew its position in Essent Group by 5,609.6% in the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 6,597,378 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $424,079,000 after buying an additional 6,481,829 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Essent Group in the fourth quarter valued at $155,516,000. Renaissancere Holdings Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Essent Group in the second quarter valued at $107,114,521,000. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG acquired a new stake in shares of Essent Group during the 2nd quarter valued at $43,068,000. 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.