Essent Group (ESNT) Competitors

Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT) and Ryan Specialty (NYSE:RYAN) are both finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their risk, earnings, media sentiment, analyst recommendations, dividends, valuation, profitability, institutional ownership and community ranking.

Is ESNT or RYAN a better dividend stock?

Essent Group pays an annual dividend of $1.24 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.1%. Ryan Specialty pays an annual dividend of $0.48 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.7%. Essent Group pays out 18.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Ryan Specialty pays out 141.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Essent Group has increased its dividend for 6 consecutive years and Ryan Specialty has increased its dividend for 1 consecutive years. Essent Group is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Do analysts recommend ESNT or RYAN?

Essent Group currently has a consensus target price of $61.71, suggesting a potential upside of 4.48%. Ryan Specialty has a consensus target price of $75.58, suggesting a potential upside of 7.06%. Given Ryan Specialty's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Ryan Specialty is more favorable than Essent Group.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Essent Group	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	4 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.57
Ryan Specialty	1 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	8 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.58

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer ESNT or RYAN?

Essent Group received 408 more outperform votes than Ryan Specialty when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 65.69% of users gave Essent Group an outperform vote while only 44.44% of users gave Ryan Specialty an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Essent Group	Outperform Votes 448 65.69%	Underperform Votes 234 34.31%
Ryan Specialty	Outperform Votes 40 44.44%	Underperform Votes 50 55.56%

Do insiders and institutionals believe in ESNT or RYAN?

93.0% of Essent Group shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 84.8% of Ryan Specialty shares are held by institutional investors. 2.9% of Essent Group shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 11.1% of Ryan Specialty shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Is ESNT or RYAN more profitable?

Essent Group has a net margin of 58.69% compared to Ryan Specialty's net margin of 9.14%. Ryan Specialty's return on equity of 48.01% beat Essent Group's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Essent Group	58.69%	13.35%	10.61%
Ryan Specialty	9.14%	48.01%	6.33%

Which has more volatility & risk, ESNT or RYAN?

Essent Group has a beta of 0.87, meaning that its stock price is 13% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Ryan Specialty has a beta of 0.68, meaning that its stock price is 32% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the media favor ESNT or RYAN?

In the previous week, Ryan Specialty had 5 more articles in the media than Essent Group. MarketBeat recorded 18 mentions for Ryan Specialty and 13 mentions for Essent Group. Ryan Specialty's average media sentiment score of 1.13 beat Essent Group's score of 1.00 indicating that Ryan Specialty is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Essent Group	12 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Ryan Specialty	11 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	4 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has higher earnings & valuation, ESNT or RYAN?

Essent Group has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Ryan Specialty. Essent Group is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Ryan Specialty, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Essent Group	$1.29B	4.65	$729.40M	$6.83	8.65
Ryan Specialty	$2.65B	6.98	$61.04M	$0.34	207.65

Summary

Essent Group beats Ryan Specialty on 11 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.