Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the six analysts that are covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $64.33.

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on Essent Group from $61.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Essent Group from $63.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Essent Group from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of Essent Group from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $65.00 to $70.00 in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, BTIG Research boosted their price target on Essent Group from $61.00 to $64.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th.

Essent Group Trading Down 1.6 %

Shares of NYSE ESNT opened at $63.52 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $61.84 and its 200 day moving average price is $57.96. Essent Group has a 52 week low of $45.63 and a 52 week high of $65.33. The stock has a market cap of $6.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.61, a PEG ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 1.12.

Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 2nd. The financial services provider reported $1.91 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.68 by $0.23. Essent Group had a net margin of 61.31% and a return on equity of 14.40%. The business had revenue of $272.90 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $308.33 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.61 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 9.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Essent Group will post 7.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Essent Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 30th were issued a $0.28 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 30th. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.76%. Essent Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.94%.

Insider Transactions at Essent Group

In other Essent Group news, SVP Vijay Bhasin sold 11,188 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.14, for a total transaction of $672,846.32. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 199,359 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,989,450.26. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Essent Group news, SVP Vijay Bhasin sold 11,188 shares of Essent Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.14, for a total transaction of $672,846.32. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 199,359 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,989,450.26. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Roy James Kasmar sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.81, for a total transaction of $294,050.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 27,140 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,596,103.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 2.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ESNT. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Essent Group in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $60,678,000. UBS Group AG grew its holdings in Essent Group by 45.0% during the 4th quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 271,077 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $14,297,000 after purchasing an additional 84,087 shares in the last quarter. Trexquant Investment LP purchased a new stake in Essent Group during the 4th quarter worth $365,000. Assetmark Inc. lifted its holdings in Essent Group by 6.6% in the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 42,680 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,251,000 after buying an additional 2,648 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in Essent Group by 12.2% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 35,191 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,856,000 after buying an additional 3,816 shares during the last quarter. 93.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Essent Group

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.