Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT) Receives $71.86 Average PT from Brokerages

Shares of Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the eight brokerages that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $71.8571.

ESNT has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Barclays raised their target price 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. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price target on shares of Essent Group from $68.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, August 10th. Roth Capital raised their price target on shares of Essent Group from $65.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report 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 research report on Monday, July 13th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Essent Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 15th.

Essent Group Trading Up 0.9%

Shares of ESNT opened at $69.09 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $6.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.64, a PEG ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a quick ratio of 1.18 and a current ratio of 1.18. Essent Group has a fifty-two week low of $55.34 and a fifty-two week high of $70.37. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $65.46 and a 200-day moving average price of $62.10.

Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT) last announced 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 firm had revenue of $362.69 million for the quarter. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Essent Group will post 7.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Essent Group Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity at Essent Group

In other news, SVP Vijay Bhasin sold 14,175 shares of Essent Group stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.00, for a total transaction of $992,250.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 184,274 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,899,180. The trade was a 7.14% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO David B. Weinstock sold 5,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.51, for a total transaction of $349,305.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 35,494 shares in the company, valued at $2,254,223.94. This represents a 13.42% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 98,848 shares of company stock valued at $6,726,789. 3.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Essent Group

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Essent Group in the second quarter worth $798,836,000. California State Teachers Retirement System boosted its stake in Essent Group by 5,609.6% in the 2nd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 6,597,378 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $424,079,000 after purchasing an additional 6,481,829 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Essent Group during the 4th quarter valued at about $155,516,000. Renaissancere Holdings Ltd. purchased a new stake in Essent Group during the 2nd quarter valued at about $107,114,521,000. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG bought a new stake in Essent Group during the 2nd quarter valued at about $43,068,000. 93.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.