Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT) Receives $65.67 Average PT from Analysts

Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the nine ratings firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, four have assigned a hold recommendation and four have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $65.6667.

Several brokerages have commented on ESNT. Compass Point reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Essent Group in a research note on Friday, August 8th. DOWLING & PARTN downgraded Essent Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 12th. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Essent Group in a research note on Friday, August 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded Essent Group from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $66.00 to $65.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 7th. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on Essent Group from $59.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a “cautious” rating in a research report on Monday, October 6th.

Insider Transactions at Essent Group

In other news, SVP Mary Lourdes Gibbons sold 4,000 shares of Essent Group stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.00, for a total value of $260,000.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 243,023 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,796,495. The trade was a 1.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Vijay Bhasin sold 11,479 shares of Essent Group stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.00, for a total value of $746,135.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 196,922 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,799,930. This represents a 5.51% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 28,190 shares of company stock valued at $1,802,316. 2.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Hantz Financial Services Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Essent Group by 1,765.2% in the second quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 429 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 406 shares during the period. Summit Securities Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Essent Group during the first quarter worth $46,000. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Essent Group by 27.8% during the third quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 947 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $60,000 after purchasing an additional 206 shares in the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new position in shares of Essent Group in the 1st quarter valued at $99,000. Finally, Covestor Ltd increased its position in shares of Essent Group by 32.9% in the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,717 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $99,000 after acquiring an additional 425 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.00% of the company’s stock.

Essent Group Stock Down 0.4%

ESNT stock opened at $59.63 on Monday. Essent Group has a twelve month low of $51.61 and a twelve month high of $65.90. The company has a quick ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. The firm has a market cap of $5.88 billion, a PE ratio of 8.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 0.88. The business has a 50 day moving average of $62.19 and a 200 day moving average of $59.60.

Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 8th. The financial services provider reported $1.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.68 by $0.25. Essent Group had a return on equity of 12.66% and a net margin of 56.36%.The company had revenue of $319.14 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $317.46 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.91 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Essent Group will post 6.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Essent Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 29th were issued a $0.31 dividend. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 29th. Essent Group’s payout ratio is 18.10%.

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.