Insider Selling: Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT) CEO Sells $55,867.98 in Stock

Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT) CEO Mark Casale sold 798 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.01, for a total value of $55,867.98. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,038,893 shares in the company, valued at approximately $142,742,898.93. The trade was a 0.04% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Mark Casale also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Wednesday, August 19th, Mark Casale sold 21,607 shares of Essent Group stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.07, for a total value of $1,514,002.49.
• On Tuesday, August 18th, Mark Casale sold 20,246 shares of Essent Group stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.18, for a total value of $1,420,864.28.
• On Tuesday, July 7th, Mark Casale sold 29,329 shares of Essent Group stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.35, for a total transaction of $1,916,650.15.
• On Monday, July 6th, Mark Casale sold 1,245 shares of Essent Group stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.08, for a total transaction of $81,024.60.
• On Tuesday, June 30th, Mark Casale sold 3,763 shares of Essent Group stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.01, for a total transaction of $244,632.63.

Essent Group Stock Performance

Essent Group stock traded down $0.77 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $68.41. 453,432 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 562,710. Essent Group Ltd. has a 52-week low of $55.34 and a 52-week high of $70.37. The stock has a market cap of $6.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.54, a P/E/G ratio of 1.74 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. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $67.02 and its 200 day moving average is $62.47.

Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, June 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.08 earnings per share for the quarter. Essent Group had a net margin of 51.45% and a return on equity of 11.91%. The business had revenue of $362.69 million for the quarter. Analysts predict that Essent Group Ltd. will post 7.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Essent Group Announces Dividend

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Essent Group

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Essent Group during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $798,836,000. California State Teachers Retirement System raised its holdings in Essent Group by 5,609.6% during 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 purchasing an additional 6,481,829 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Essent Group by 4.4% during 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 in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Essent Group during the fourth quarter worth $155,516,000. Finally, Cooke & Bieler LP grew its holdings 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 valued at $126,900,000 after purchasing an additional 13,318 shares during the last quarter. 93.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have issued reports on ESNT. Weiss Ratings upgraded Essent Group from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Wall Street Zen upgraded Essent Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Essent Group from $65.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, July 13th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price objective on Essent Group from $68.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, August 10th. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on Essent Group from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report 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, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $71.86.

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.