Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT) Receives $64.71 Consensus Price Target from Analysts

Shares of Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Hold” by the seven brokerages that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and three have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $63.14.

ESNT has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on Essent Group from $68.00 to $60.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of Essent Group from $73.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on Essent Group from $73.00 to $67.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Essent Group from $67.00 to $60.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Barclays cut Essent Group from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their target price for the company from $69.00 to $58.00 in a research note on Monday.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in ESNT. CWA Asset Management Group LLC grew its stake in Essent Group by 25.7% in the 4th quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 13,853 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $754,000 after buying an additional 2,832 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its holdings in Essent Group by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 60,250 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,294,000 after acquiring an additional 811 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in Essent Group by 10.8% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,021,343 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $65,662,000 after purchasing an additional 99,604 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in shares of Essent Group by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 47,182 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,993,000 after buying an additional 1,309 shares in the last quarter. Finally, World Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Essent Group during the third quarter worth $686,000. 93.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Essent Group Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE ESNT opened at $53.58 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $5.69 billion, a PE ratio of 7.77, a PEG ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 1.11. Essent Group has a 52-week low of $50.65 and a 52-week high of $65.33. The business has a fifty day moving average of $55.68 and a two-hundred day moving average of $59.29.

Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 1st. The financial services provider reported $1.65 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.73 by ($0.08). Essent Group had a return on equity of 13.81% and a net margin of 60.15%. The business had revenue of $3.17 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $316.80 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.66 EPS. Essent Group’s revenue for the quarter was up 969.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Essent Group will post 6.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Essent Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 11th. Investors of record on Monday, December 2nd were issued a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.09%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 2nd. Essent Group’s payout ratio is currently 16.23%.

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.