Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT) Stock Now Rated "Hold" by Wall Street Brokerages

Key Points

• Essent Group has a consensus “Hold” rating: Seven of ten covering analysts recommend holding the stock, while three recommend buying; the average one-year price target is $70.75.
• Recent analyst views were mixed: Bank of America cut its rating to neutral and lowered its target to $68, while other firms raised targets, including Roth Capital’s increase to $80.
• Company insiders sold 69,663 shares worth about $4.87 million over the past 90 days. Institutional investors own 93% of the stock.

Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT - Get Free Report) has earned a consensus rating of "Hold" from the ten ratings firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and three have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $70.75.

ESNT has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Bank of America downgraded Essent Group from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and decreased their target price for the company from $78.00 to $68.00 in a report on Friday, October 30th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Essent Group from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, October 31st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of Essent Group from $74.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, August 10th. Roth Capital raised their target price on shares of Essent Group from $65.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, August 10th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Essent Group from $68.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Monday, August 10th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Essent Group news, SVP Vijay Bhasin sold 14,175 shares of Essent Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.00, for a total transaction of $992,250.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 184,274 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $12,899,180. The trade was a 7.14% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Douglas Pauls sold 2,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, August 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.70, for a total value of $174,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 30,154 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,101,733.80. The trade was a 7.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 69,663 shares of company stock valued at $4,866,555 over the last ninety days. 3.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Essent Group

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund raised its stake in shares of Essent Group by 1.2% in the third quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 36,803 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $2,131,000 after buying an additional 428 shares during the period. Brighton Jones LLC bought a new stake in shares of Essent Group during the 3rd quarter valued at $213,000. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA raised its position in shares of Essent Group by 18.3% during the 3rd quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 709,273 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $41,074,000 after purchasing an additional 109,494 shares during the period. Parallel Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Essent Group by 13.5% during the 3rd quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 3,018 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $175,000 after buying an additional 358 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. bought a new position in Essent Group in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $998,000. 93.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Essent Group Trading Down 1.0%

Shares of ESNT stock opened at $68.68 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $65.70 and a 200 day moving average of $63.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a current ratio of 1.18 and a quick ratio of 1.18. Essent Group has a 1-year low of $55.34 and a 1-year high of $71.84. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.17 billion, a PE ratio of 9.58, a P/E/G ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 0.71.

Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, June 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.08 EPS for the quarter. The business had revenue of $362.69 million for the quarter. Essent Group had a return on equity of 11.91% and a net margin of 51.45%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Essent Group will post 7.58 earnings per share for the current year.

About Essent Group

Essent Group Ltd. NYSE: ESNT is a Bermuda-based holding company that provides private mortgage insurance and related risk-management services in the United States. Through its operating subsidiaries, the company helps protect mortgage lenders and investors against losses when borrowers default on residential mortgage loans.

Its principal business is mortgage insurance for low-down-payment conventional residential mortgages, enabling qualified borrowers to obtain home financing with less than a 20% down payment.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.