Royal Bank of Canada Boosts Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT) Price Target to $67.00

Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT) had its price target boosted by equities researchers at Royal Bank of Canada from $61.00 to $67.00 in a research note issued on Monday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “outperform” rating on the financial services provider’s stock. Royal Bank of Canada’s target price suggests a potential upside of 14.92% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on the company. Barclays boosted their price target on Essent Group from $63.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Essent Group from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Essent Group from $57.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 22nd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of Essent Group from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $65.00 to $70.00 in a research report on Monday. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Essent Group currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $62.43.

Essent Group Stock Performance

Shares of ESNT stock traded down $1.65 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $58.30. The company had a trading volume of 185,325 shares, compared to its average volume of 517,367. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $57.77 and a 200-day moving average price of $55.92. Essent Group has a one year low of $45.63 and a one year high of $64.05. The firm has a market cap of $6.22 billion, a PE ratio of 8.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 1.11.

Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 2nd. The financial services provider reported $1.91 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.68 by $0.23. Essent Group had a return on equity of 14.24% and a net margin of 61.40%. The firm had revenue of $272.90 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $308.33 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.61 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 9.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Essent Group will post 6.69 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Essent Group news, SVP Vijay Bhasin sold 11,188 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.14, for a total value of $672,846.32. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 199,359 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,989,450.26. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, SVP Vijay Bhasin sold 11,188 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.14, for a total transaction of $672,846.32. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 199,359 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,989,450.26. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Douglas J. Pauls sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.12, for a total value of $140,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 27,112 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,521,525.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 2.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Essent Group

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Essent Group by 3.8% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 11,917,819 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $709,229,000 after buying an additional 440,385 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Essent Group by 6.9% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,025,836 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $212,326,000 after purchasing an additional 258,246 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Essent Group by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,496,741 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $78,938,000 after purchasing an additional 25,483 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in Essent Group by 10.7% in the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,247,184 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $74,220,000 after purchasing an additional 120,881 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in Essent Group in the fourth quarter worth about $60,678,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.00% of the company’s stock.

Essent Group Company Profile

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.