Essent Group (ESNT) Competitors

MGIC Investment (NYSE:MTG) and Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT) are both mid-cap finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their risk, community ranking, earnings, media sentiment, profitability, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, valuation and dividends.

Is MTG or ESNT a better dividend stock?

MGIC Investment pays an annual dividend of $0.46 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.5%. Essent Group pays an annual dividend of $1.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.0%. MGIC Investment pays out 18.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Essent Group pays out 16.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. MGIC Investment has raised its dividend for 3 consecutive years and Essent Group has raised its dividend for 4 consecutive years.

Do analysts prefer MTG or ESNT?

MGIC Investment presently has a consensus price target of $18.88, indicating a potential upside of 4.40%. Essent Group has a consensus price target of $56.38, indicating a potential upside of 13.98%. Given MGIC Investment's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Essent Group is more favorable than MGIC Investment.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
MGIC Investment	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.40
Essent Group	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	5 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.63

Does the media prefer MTG or ESNT?

In the previous week, MGIC Investment had 4 more articles in the media than Essent Group. MarketBeat recorded 11 mentions for MGIC Investment and 7 mentions for Essent Group. MGIC Investment's average media sentiment score of 0.84 beat Essent Group's score of 0.75 indicating that Essent Group is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
MGIC Investment	3 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	4 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Essent Group	2 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer MTG or ESNT?

MGIC Investment received 53 more outperform votes than Essent Group when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 67.42% of users gave MGIC Investment an outperform vote while only 66.10% of users gave Essent Group an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
MGIC Investment	Outperform Votes 480 67.42%	Underperform Votes 232 32.58%
Essent Group	Outperform Votes 427 66.10%	Underperform Votes 219 33.90%

Is MTG or ESNT more profitable?

Essent Group has a net margin of 64.11% compared to Essent Group's net margin of 61.88%. Essent Group's return on equity of 15.28% beat MGIC Investment's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
MGIC Investment	61.88%	15.28%	11.57%
Essent Group	64.11%	14.33%	11.27%

Which has more volatility & risk, MTG or ESNT?

MGIC Investment has a beta of 1.27, meaning that its stock price is 27% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Essent Group has a beta of 1.09, meaning that its stock price is 9% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Which has preferable valuation and earnings, MTG or ESNT?

MGIC Investment has higher revenue and earnings than Essent Group. MGIC Investment is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Essent Group, 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
MGIC Investment	$1.17B	4.28	$865.35M	$2.47	7.32
Essent Group	$1.00B	5.28	$831.35M	$6.23	7.94

Do institutionals & insiders believe in MTG or ESNT?

93.4% of MGIC Investment shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 91.8% of Essent Group shares are held by institutional investors. 1.1% of MGIC Investment shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 2.9% of Essent Group shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Essent Group beats MGIC Investment on 11 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.