Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT) Declares Quarterly Dividend of $0.28

Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, May 2nd, Zacks reports. Investors of record on Friday, May 31st will be paid a dividend of 0.28 per share by the financial services provider on Monday, June 10th. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.05%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 31st.

Essent Group has increased its dividend payment by an average of 16.0% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 5 consecutive years. Essent Group has a dividend payout ratio of 15.9% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Essent Group to earn $7.17 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.12 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 15.6%.

Essent Group Stock Performance

ESNT stock traded up $0.26 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $54.54. 555,660 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 491,395. Essent Group has a 1-year low of $40.33 and a 1-year high of $59.90. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $55.11 and its 200 day simple moving average is $52.43. The company has a market cap of $5.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.83 and a beta of 1.05.

Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 3rd. The financial services provider reported $1.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.56 by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $298.40 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $298.69 million. Essent Group had a return on equity of 14.44% and a net margin of 62.75%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 16.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.59 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Essent Group will post 6.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on ESNT shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on shares of Essent Group from $62.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded Essent Group from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price target for the company from $58.00 to $61.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on Essent Group from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 12th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Essent Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 4th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Essent Group currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $58.38.

About Essent Group

Essent Group Ltd., through its subsidiaries, provides private mortgage insurance and reinsurance for mortgages secured by residential properties located in the United States. Its mortgage insurance products include primary, pool, and master policy. The company also provides information technology maintenance and development services; customer support-related services; underwriting consulting; and contract underwriting services, as well as risk management products and title insurance and settlement services.