Mary Lourdes Gibbons Sells 872 Shares of Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT) Stock

Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT) SVP Mary Lourdes Gibbons sold 872 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.00, for a total transaction of $54,936.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 245,214 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,448,482. The trade was a 0.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Mary Lourdes Gibbons also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Monday, April 20th, Mary Lourdes Gibbons sold 7,628 shares of Essent Group stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.01, for a total transaction of $480,640.28.

Essent Group Stock Up 0.8%

Shares of NYSE:ESNT traded up $0.48 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $63.15. 747,093 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 723,294. Essent Group Ltd. has a fifty-two week low of $54.29 and a fifty-two week high of $67.09. The company has a quick ratio of 1.20, a current ratio of 1.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $59.96 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $61.52. The firm has a market cap of $5.94 billion, a PE ratio of 9.17, a P/E/G ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 0.87.

Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Saturday, February 14th. The financial services provider reported $1.60 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.74 by ($0.14). Essent Group had a return on equity of 12.09% and a net margin of 54.72%.The company had revenue of $312.40 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $312.62 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.58 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down .8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Essent Group Ltd. will post 7.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Essent Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 23rd. Investors of record on Friday, March 13th were issued a dividend of $0.35 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 13th. This is a positive change from Essent Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.2%. Essent Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 20.32%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Essent Group

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ESNT. Sivia Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Essent Group in the 2nd quarter valued at $346,000. M&T Bank Corp bought a new position in shares of Essent Group in the 2nd quarter valued at about $239,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Essent Group by 160.0% in the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,080 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $126,000 after acquiring an additional 1,280 shares during the period. Baird Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Essent Group in the 2nd quarter valued at about $211,000. Finally, Jump Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of Essent Group in the 2nd quarter valued at about $224,000. 93.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ESNT has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “neutral” rating and set a $70.00 price objective on shares of Essent Group in a report on Tuesday, January 6th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Essent Group from $65.00 to $63.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 12th. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Essent Group from $63.00 to $61.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 6th. Roth Mkm lifted their price target on shares of Essent Group from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 2nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of Essent Group from $65.00 to $64.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $67.86.

Essent Group Company Profile

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.