Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT) SVP Mary Lourdes Gibbons Sells 872 Shares

Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT) SVP Mary Lourdes Gibbons sold 872 shares of Essent Group stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.00, for a total value of $54,936.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 245,214 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,448,482. This trade represents a 0.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Mary Lourdes Gibbons also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Monday, April 20th, Mary Lourdes Gibbons sold 7,628 shares of Essent Group stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.01, for a total value of $480,640.28.

Essent Group Stock Up 0.8%

ESNT stock opened at $63.15 on Wednesday. Essent Group Ltd. has a twelve month low of $54.29 and a twelve month high of $67.09. The company has a market cap of $5.94 billion, a PE ratio of 9.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 0.87. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $59.94 and its 200 day simple moving average is $61.53. The company has a quick ratio of 1.20, a current ratio of 1.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09.

Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT) last released its earnings results on Saturday, February 14th. The financial services provider reported $1.60 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.74 by ($0.14). Essent Group had a return on equity of 12.09% and a net margin of 54.72%.The firm had revenue of $312.40 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $312.62 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.58 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down .8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Essent Group Ltd. will post 7.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Essent Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 23rd. Investors of record on Friday, March 13th were given a dividend of $0.35 per share. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.2%. This is a boost from Essent Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 13th. Essent Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 20.32%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ESNT has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. UBS Group decreased their target price on Essent Group from $65.00 to $63.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 12th. Roth Mkm lifted their target price on Essent Group from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on Essent Group from $65.00 to $64.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 9th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b+)” rating on shares of Essent Group in a report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Barclays decreased their price objective on Essent Group from $63.00 to $61.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 6th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Essent Group has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $67.86.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Essent Group in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Measured Wealth Private Client Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Essent Group in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $27,000. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Essent Group in the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Hantz Financial Services Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Essent Group by 45.5% in the 3rd quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 624 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 195 shares in the last quarter. Finally, IFP Advisors Inc boosted its holdings in shares of Essent Group by 97.1% in the 4th quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 676 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $44,000 after acquiring an additional 333 shares in the last quarter. 93.00% of the stock is 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.