Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Royal Bank Of Canada Analyst Says

Key Points

• Royal Bank of Canada raised Essent Group’s price target from $68 to $75 while maintaining a “sector perform” rating, implying approximately 10% upside. The consensus rating remains “Hold,” with an average target of $71.86.
• Essent Group shares fell 0.8% to $68.19 in Monday trading, despite reporting quarterly EPS of $2.08 and revenue of $362.69 million. Analysts expect full-year EPS of approximately $7.32.
• Company insiders sold shares worth about $2.59 million over the past 90 days, while institutional investors own approximately 93% of the stock.

Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT - Get Free Report) had its price objective upped by Royal Bank Of Canada from $68.00 to $75.00 in a report issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a "sector perform" rating on the financial services provider's stock. Royal Bank Of Canada's price target indicates a potential upside of 9.99% from the stock's current price.

A number of other research firms have also issued reports on ESNT. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Essent Group from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Essent Group from $65.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, July 13th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on shares of Essent Group from $74.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Essent Group from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "buy (b)" rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 23rd. Finally, Roth Capital restated a "buy" rating and set a $80.00 price target on shares of Essent Group in a report on Monday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $71.86.

Essent Group Stock Down 0.8%

NYSE:ESNT traded down $0.53 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $68.19. 169,247 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 738,013. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $62.79 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $61.56. The firm has a market cap of $6.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.53, a P/E/G ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a quick ratio of 1.32 and a current ratio of 0.93. Essent Group has a twelve month low of $55.34 and a twelve month high of $70.00.

Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, June 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.08 EPS for the quarter. Essent Group had a return on equity of 11.91% and a net margin of 51.45%.The firm had revenue of $362.69 million during the quarter. On average, research analysts expect that Essent Group will post 7.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO David B. Weinstock sold 5,500 shares of Essent Group stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief financial officer owned 35,494 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,254,223.94. The trade was a 13.42% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Mark Casale sold 29,329 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.35, for a total transaction of $1,916,650.15. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,184,143 shares of the company's stock, valued at $142,733,745.05. This represents a 1.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 39,837 shares of company stock worth $2,591,612 in the last 90 days. 3.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in ESNT. Meeder Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Essent Group in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $227,000. Renaissancere Holdings Ltd. acquired a new position in Essent Group during the second quarter valued at approximately $107,114,521,000. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in shares of Essent Group in the second quarter valued at approximately $798,836,000. Deutsche Bank AG bought a new position in shares of Essent Group in the second quarter valued at approximately $43,068,000. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Essent Group in the second quarter worth $55,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.00% of the company's stock.

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.

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.

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