Essent Group (ESNT) Stock Price, News & Analysis

Company Overview

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. These services include automated underwriting integrations, predictive analytics, portfolio surveillance, and capital markets execution. In addition, Essent Reinsurance provides customized reinsurance solutions that allow insurers to optimize capital usage, tailor risk exposure and enhance overall balance-sheet flexibility.

Founded in 2008 and commencing operations in 2010, Essent completed its initial public offering in December 2013. The company is incorporated in Bermuda with its executive headquarters in Jersey City, New Jersey. Essent’s operations span all 50 states, where it has established relationships with a broad range of mortgage lenders, including banks, credit unions and independent mortgage bankers.

Essent’s management team comprises experienced professionals in insurance underwriting, risk management and capital markets. The company maintains robust financial strength and governance standards, underpinned by ratings from major rating agencies. Essent continues to focus on innovation in mortgage insurance technology, client service excellence and disciplined risk selection to support sustainable growth in the U.S. housing finance market.

Key Stats

• Today's Range: $64.99 to $65.90
• 50-Day Range: $55.69 to $65.49
• 52-Week Range: $51.61 to $65.90
• Volume: 2.33 million shs
• Average Volume: 518,377 shs
• Market Capitalization: $6.43 billion
• P/E Ratio: 9.52
• Dividend Yield: 1.90%
• Price Target: $63.67
• Consensus Rating: Moderate Buy

Essent Group Stock Analysis - MarketRank™

Essent Group scored higher than 83% of companies evaluated by MarketBeat, and ranked 279th out of 941 stocks in the finance sector. Scores are calculated by averaging available category scores, with extra weight given to analysis and valuation.

Analyst's Opinion

• Score: 2.3 / 5
• Analyst Rating: Moderate Buy

Consensus Rating

Essent Group has received a consensus rating of Moderate Buy. The company's average rating score is 2.50, and is based on 4 buy ratings, 4 hold ratings, and no sell ratings.

Upside/Downside

The consensus price target for Essent Group is close to its current price, suggesting limited near-term upside or downside.

Amount of Analyst Coverage

Essent Group has been the subject of 6 research reports in the past 90 days, demonstrating strong analyst interest in this stock.

Earnings and Valuation

• Score: 1.9 / 5
• Proj. Earnings Growth: 4.65%

Earnings Growth

Earnings for Essent Group are expected to grow by 4.65% in the coming year, from $6.88 to $7.20 per share.

Price to Earnings Ratio vs. the Market

The P/E ratio of Essent Group is 9.52, which means that it is trading at a less expensive P/E ratio than the market average P/E ratio of about 279.97.

Price to Earnings Ratio vs. Sector

The P/E ratio of Essent Group is 9.52, which means that it is trading at a less expensive P/E ratio than the Finance sector average P/E ratio of about 243.57.

Price to Earnings Growth Ratio

Essent Group has a PEG Ratio of 2.84. PEG Ratios above 1 indicate that a company could be overvalued.

Price to Book Value per Share Ratio

Essent Group has a P/B Ratio of 1.24. P/B Ratios below 3 indicates that a company is reasonably valued with respect to its assets and liabilities.

Short Interest

• Score: 3.0 / 5
• Short Interest Level: Healthy

Percentage of Shares Shorted

2.29% of the float of Essent Group has been sold short.

Short Interest Ratio / Days to Cover

Essent Group has a short interest ratio ("days to cover") of 3.2, which is generally considered an acceptable ratio of short interest to trading volume.

Change versus previous month

Short interest in Essent Group has recently increased by 42.48%, indicating that investor sentiment is decreasing significantly.

Dividend

• Score: 3.3 / 5
• Dividend Strength: Strong

Dividend Yield

Essent Group pays a meaningful dividend of 1.89%, higher than the bottom 25% of all stocks that pay dividends.

Dividend Growth

Essent Group has been increasing its dividend for 6 years.

Dividend Coverage

The dividend payout ratio of Essent Group is 18.10%. This payout ratio is at a healthy, sustainable level, below 75%.

Dividend Sustainability

Based on earnings estimates, Essent Group will have a dividend payout ratio of 17.22% next year. This indicates that Essent Group will be able to sustain or increase its dividend.

Sustainability and ESG

• Score: 1.8 / 5
• Environmental Score: -0.45

Percentage of Shares Shorted

2.29% of the float of Essent Group has been sold short.

Short Interest Ratio / Days to Cover

Essent Group has a short interest ratio ("days to cover") of 3.2, which is generally considered an acceptable ratio of short interest to trading volume.

Change versus previous month

Short interest in Essent Group has recently increased by 42.48%, indicating that investor sentiment is decreasing significantly.

News and Social Media

• Score: 3.0 / 5
• News Sentiment: 1.39

News Sentiment

Essent Group has a news sentiment score of 1.39. This score is calculated as an average of sentiment of articles about the company over the last seven days and ranges from 2 (good news) to -2 (bad news). This is a higher news sentiment than the 1.04 average news sentiment score of Finance companies.

News Coverage This Week

MarketBeat has tracked 13 news articles for Essent Group this week, compared to 7 articles on an average week.

Company Ownership

• Score: 2.5 / 5
• Insider Trading: Selling Shares

Insider Buying vs. Insider Selling

In the past three months, Essent Group insiders have sold more of their company's stock than they have bought. Specifically, they have bought $0.00 in company stock and sold $931,001.00 in company stock.

Percentage Held by Insiders

Only 2.90% of the stock of Essent Group is held by insiders.

Percentage Held by Institutions

93.00% of the stock of Essent Group is held by institutions. High institutional ownership can be a signal of strong market trust in this company.

ESNT Stock Analysis - Frequently Asked Questions

How have ESNT shares performed this year?

Essent Group's stock was trading at $54.44 at the beginning of 2025. Since then, ESNT stock has increased by 19.8% and is now trading at $65.24.

How were Essent Group's earnings last quarter?

Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT) posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August, 8th. The financial services provider reported $1.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.68 by $0.25. The firm's revenue was up 2.0% compared to the same quarter last year.
Read the conference call transcript.

Who are Essent Group's major shareholders?

Essent Group's top institutional investors include State Street Corp (4.02%), Geode Capital Management LLC (2.89%), Cooke & Bieler LP (1.60%) and Ameriprise Financial Inc. (1.64%). Insiders that own company stock include Mary Lourdes Gibbons, Vijay Bhasin, Douglas J Pauls, Roy James Kasmar, William Spiegel, David B Weinstock and Aditya Dutt.
View institutional ownership trends.

How do I buy shares of Essent Group?

Shares of ESNT stock can be purchased through any online brokerage account. Popular online brokerages with access to the U.S. stock market include Charles Schwab, E*TRADE, Fidelity, and Vanguard Brokerage Services.

What other stocks do shareholders of Essent Group own?

Based on aggregate information from My MarketBeat watchlists, some other companies that Essent Group investors own include American Water Works (AWK), DiamondRock Hospitality (DRH), Waste Connections (WCN), The RMR Group (RMR), AU Optronics (AUOTY), iShares Micro-Cap ETF (IWC) and Triple Flag Precious Metals (TFPM).

Company Calendar

• Last Earnings: 8/08/2025
• Record date for 9/10 Dividend: 8/29/2025
• Ex-Dividend for 9/10 Dividend: 8/29/2025
• Dividend Payable: 9/10/2025
• Today: 9/20/2025
• Next Earnings (Estimated): 11/07/2025
• Fiscal Year End: 12/31/2025

Industry, Sector and Symbol

• Stock Exchange: NYSE
• Sector: Finance
• Industry: INS - PROP&CASLTY
• Sub-Industry: Insurance
• Current Symbol: NYSE:ESNT
• CIK: 1448893
• Web: www.essentgroup.com
• Phone: (441) 297-9901
• Fax: N/A
• Employees: 350
• Year Founded: 2008

Price Target and Rating

• Average Price Target for Essent Group: $63.67
• High Price Target: $69.00
• Low Price Target: $59.00
• Potential Upside/Downside: -2.4%
• Consensus Rating: Moderate Buy
• Rating Score (0-4): 2.50
• Research Coverage: 8 Analysts

Profitability

• EPS (Trailing Twelve Months): $6.85
• Trailing P/E Ratio: 9.52
• Forward P/E Ratio: 9.48
• P/E Growth: 2.84
• Net Income: $729.40 million
• Net Margins: 56.36%
• Pretax Margin: 66.29%
• Return on Equity: 12.66%
• Return on Assets: 9.98%

Debt

• Debt-to-Equity Ratio: 0.09
• Current Ratio: 1.24
• Quick Ratio: 1.24

Sales & Book Value

• Annual Sales: $1.24 billion
• Price / Sales: 5.17
• Cash Flow: $7.08 per share
• Price / Cash Flow: 9.21
• Book Value: $52.76 per share
• Price / Book: 1.24

Miscellaneous

• Outstanding Shares: 98,530,000
• Free Float: 95,677,000
• Market Cap: $6.43 billion
• Optionable: Optionable
• Beta: 0.86