Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT) Given Average Recommendation of "Hold" by Brokerages

Key Points

• Wall Street is cautious on Essent Group: The stock has an average analyst rating of "Hold" from 10 brokerages, with a consensus price target of $68.00.
• Recent earnings topped expectations: Essent Group reported $1.82 EPS and $336.07 million in revenue for the quarter, both above estimates, while revenue rose 5.8% year over year.
• Insiders have been selling shares: The CEO and an SVP recently sold stock under pre-arranged trading plans, and insiders sold 25,814 shares worth about $1.66 million over the last three months.

Shares of Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT - Get Free Report) have received an average rating of "Hold" from the ten brokerages that are covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $68.00.

ESNT has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Essent Group from $61.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective 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. Finally, 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 research note on Thursday, March 12th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Essent Group

In other Essent Group news, SVP Mary Lourdes Gibbons sold 7,628 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, April 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.01, for a total value of $480,640.28. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 237,586 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $14,970,293.86. The trade was a 3.11% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Mark Casale sold 13,064 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.05, for a total transaction of $849,813.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,218,480 shares in the company, valued at $144,312,124. This represents a 0.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 25,814 shares of company stock worth $1,661,682 over the last three months. 3.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Essent Group

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Essent Group by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 11,987,945 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $779,336,000 after purchasing an additional 85,295 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Essent Group by 4.4% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,076,950 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $206,628,000 after purchasing an additional 129,672 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Essent Group during the 4th quarter worth $155,516,000. Cooke & Bieler LP grew its stake in shares of Essent Group by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP now owns 1,952,006 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $126,900,000 after purchasing an additional 13,318 shares during the period. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Essent Group by 43.7% during the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,864,067 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $121,183,000 after purchasing an additional 567,103 shares during the period. 93.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Essent Group Stock Performance

Shares of Essent Group stock opened at $60.17 on Friday. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $60.18 and its 200-day simple moving average is $61.77. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.57, a PEG ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 0.81. Essent Group has a 12 month low of $55.22 and a 12 month high of $67.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a current ratio of 1.32 and a quick ratio of 1.20.

Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Friday, May 8th. The financial services provider reported $1.82 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.68 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $336.07 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $297.56 million. Essent Group had a net margin of 53.64% and a return on equity of 12.01%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 5.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.69 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Essent Group will post 7.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Essent Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 1st will be paid a $0.35 dividend. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 1st. Essent Group's payout ratio is currently 19.94%.

About Essent Group

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.

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