Wall Street Zen Upgrades Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT) to Buy

Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT) was upgraded by equities researchers at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued on Saturday.

Several other research firms have also recently weighed in on ESNT. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Essent Group from $65.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, July 13th. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Essent Group from $68.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, August 10th. Roth Capital increased their price objective on shares of Essent Group from $65.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 10th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Essent Group from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on Essent Group from $74.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, August 10th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $71.86.

Essent Group Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ESNT opened at $69.53 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 1.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $63.96 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $61.81. Essent Group has a 1-year low of $55.34 and a 1-year high of $70.00. The stock has a market cap of $6.25 billion, a PE ratio of 9.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 0.76.

Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, June 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The firm had revenue of $362.69 million during the quarter. Essent Group had a net margin of 51.45% and a return on equity of 11.91%. As a group, analysts forecast that Essent Group will post 7.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Essent Group

In related news, CEO Mark Casale sold 29,329 shares of Essent Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.35, for a total value of $1,916,650.15. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,184,143 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $142,733,745.05. The trade was a 1.33% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO David B. Weinstock sold 5,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.51, for a total value of $349,305.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 35,494 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,254,223.94. The trade was a 13.42% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 40,320 shares of company stock worth $2,625,422 over the last three months. 3.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Essent Group

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Essent Group during the 2nd quarter valued at $798,836,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Essent Group by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 11,987,945 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $779,336,000 after acquiring an additional 85,295 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Essent Group by 4.4% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,076,950 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $206,628,000 after acquiring an additional 129,672 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Essent Group during the fourth quarter valued at about $155,516,000. Finally, Cooke & Bieler LP lifted its holdings in Essent Group by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP now owns 1,952,006 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $126,900,000 after purchasing an additional 13,318 shares during the last quarter. 93.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.