Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT) Receives $66.43 Consensus Target Price from Brokerages

Shares of Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT) have been given an average recommendation of “Hold” by the ten research firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $66.4286.

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on ESNT shares. Barclays boosted their price objective on Essent Group from $61.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, May 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Essent Group from $65.00 to $64.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Essent Group from $65.00 to $63.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 12th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded Essent Group from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $73.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Thursday, June 4th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada started coverage on Essent Group in a research report on Friday, May 22nd. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $68.00 price objective for the company.

Essent Group Stock Down 0.4%

NYSE:ESNT opened at $58.15 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.36 billion, a PE ratio of 8.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.78. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $60.47 and a 200-day moving average of $61.41. Essent Group has a 52 week low of $55.22 and a 52 week high of $67.09. The company has a current ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 1.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09.

Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, May 8th. The financial services provider reported $1.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.68 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $336.07 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $297.56 million. Essent Group had a return on equity of 12.01% and a net margin of 53.64%.The business’s revenue was up 5.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.69 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Essent Group will post 7.25 EPS for the current year.

Essent Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 1st were given a dividend of $0.35 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 1st. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.4%. Essent Group’s payout ratio is currently 19.94%.

Insider Activity at Essent Group

In other Essent Group news, CEO Mark Casale sold 13,064 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.05, for a total value of $849,813.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,218,480 shares in the company, valued at $144,312,124. This represents a 0.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, SVP Mary Lourdes Gibbons sold 7,628 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.01, for a total value of $480,640.28. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 237,586 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,970,293.86. This trade represents a 3.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 25,814 shares of company stock valued at $1,661,682. Insiders own 3.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Essent Group

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Essent Group by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 11,987,945 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $779,336,000 after purchasing an additional 85,295 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Essent Group by 4.4% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,076,950 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $206,628,000 after purchasing an additional 129,672 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Essent Group in the fourth quarter worth approximately $155,516,000. Cooke & Bieler LP lifted its position in Essent Group by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP now owns 1,952,006 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $126,900,000 after purchasing an additional 13,318 shares during the period. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Essent Group by 43.7% in the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,864,067 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $121,183,000 after purchasing an additional 567,103 shares during the period. 93.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Essent Group Company 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.