Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT) Given Consensus Rating of "Hold" by Analysts

Key Points

• Essent Group has a consensus analyst rating of "Hold" from 10 covering analysts, with six holds and four buys; the average 12-month price target is about $66.43.
• The company reported better-than-expected Q1 earnings, posting $1.82 per share versus the $1.68 estimate and revenue of $336.07 million, while management also announced a quarterly dividend of $0.35 per share.
• Recent activity shows insider selling by CEO Mark Casale and SVP Mary Lourdes Gibbons, while institutional investors remain heavily involved, with 93% of shares owned by hedge funds and other institutions.

Shares of Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT - Get Free Report) have received a consensus rating of "Hold" from the ten analysts that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and four have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $66.4286.

A number of research firms have weighed in on ESNT. Royal Bank Of Canada began coverage on Essent Group in a research report on Friday, May 22nd. They set a "sector perform" rating and a $68.00 price target on the stock. Barclays lifted their price objective on Essent Group from $61.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, May 11th. Weiss Ratings cut Essent Group from a "buy (b)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a report on Thursday. Roth Mkm restated a "buy" rating and set a $65.00 target price on shares of Essent Group in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded Essent Group from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $73.00 target price for the company in a report on Thursday, June 4th.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Mark Casale sold 13,064 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.05, for a total transaction of $849,813.20. Following the completion of the sale, 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, SVP Mary Lourdes Gibbons sold 4,250 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.01, for a total value of $276,292.50. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 233,336 shares of the company's stock, valued at $15,169,173.36. This represents a 1.79% 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 have sold a total of 25,814 shares of company stock valued at $1,661,682 over the last 90 days. 3.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Cozad Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in Essent Group by 2.4% during the 1st quarter. Cozad Asset Management Inc. now owns 26,744 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,563,000 after purchasing an additional 630 shares during the period. EMG Holdings L.P. purchased a new position in Essent Group during the 1st quarter valued at about $3,506,000. Edgestream Partners L.P. purchased a new position in Essent Group during the 1st quarter valued at about $7,566,000. South Dakota Investment Council increased its holdings in Essent Group by 27.7% during the 1st quarter. South Dakota Investment Council now owns 31,169 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,822,000 after purchasing an additional 6,762 shares during the period. Finally, Amundi increased its holdings in Essent Group by 92.1% during the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 10,668 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $623,000 after purchasing an additional 5,116 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.00% of the company's stock.

Essent Group Trading Down 0.9%

NYSE ESNT opened at $56.91 on Tuesday. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $60.48 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $61.55. Essent Group has a twelve month low of $55.22 and a twelve month high of $67.09. The company has a quick ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 1.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. The company has a market capitalization of $5.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.11, a PEG ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 0.78.

Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 8th. The financial services provider reported $1.82 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.68 by $0.14. Essent Group had a return on equity of 12.01% and a net margin of 53.64%.The business had revenue of $336.07 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $297.56 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.69 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 5.8% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Essent Group will post 7.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Essent Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 10th. Investors of record on Monday, June 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.35 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 1st. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.5%. Essent Group's dividend payout ratio is currently 19.94%.

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.

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