Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT) Receives $68.00 Consensus Target Price from Brokerages

Shares of Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT) have been given an average rating of “Hold” by the ten ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and four have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $68.00.

A number of research firms have issued reports on ESNT. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on Essent Group from $65.00 to $64.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. Barclays raised their target price on Essent Group from $61.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Finally, UBS Group cut their target price on Essent Group from $65.00 to $63.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 12th.

Insider Transactions at Essent Group

In related news, CEO Mark Casale sold 13,064 shares of Essent Group stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.05, for a total transaction of $849,813.20. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,218,480 shares in the company, valued at $144,312,124. The trade was a 0.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, SVP Mary Lourdes Gibbons sold 4,250 shares of Essent Group stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.01, for a total transaction of $276,292.50. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 233,336 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,169,173.36. This represents a 1.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 25,814 shares of company stock worth $1,661,682. Company insiders own 3.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Essent Group

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of ESNT. Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC raised its holdings in Essent Group by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC now owns 4,832 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $302,000 after buying an additional 166 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its stake in Essent Group by 5.6% in the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 3,238 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $211,000 after purchasing an additional 172 shares during the period. Hantz Financial Services Inc. boosted its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 195 shares during the period. Inspire Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Essent Group by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Inspire Advisors LLC now owns 11,830 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $752,000 after purchasing an additional 198 shares during the period. Finally, Natixis Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Essent Group by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 16,584 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,078,000 after purchasing an additional 204 shares during the period. 93.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Essent Group Stock Performance

ESNT stock opened at $60.90 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a quick ratio of 1.32 and a current ratio of 1.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.68, a PEG ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 0.81. Essent Group has a 1 year low of $55.22 and a 1 year high of $67.09. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $60.27 and its two-hundred day moving average is $61.79.

Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT) last posted its earnings results on Friday, May 8th. The financial services provider reported $1.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.68 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $336.07 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $297.56 million. Essent Group had a return on equity of 12.01% and a net margin of 53.64%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.69 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Essent Group will post 7.32 EPS for the current year.

Essent Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 10th. Investors of record on Monday, June 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.35 per share. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 1st. Essent Group’s payout ratio is currently 19.94%.

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.