Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT) has received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the six ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and four have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $64.33.

ESNT has been the topic of several research reports. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on Essent Group from $61.00 to $67.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded Essent Group from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $65.00 to $70.00 in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Essent Group from $63.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. BTIG Research raised their price target on shares of Essent Group from $61.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Essent Group from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th.

Essent Group Trading Down 1.6 %

Shares of NYSE:ESNT opened at $63.52 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $6.78 billion, a PE ratio of 9.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $61.84 and a 200 day simple moving average of $57.96. Essent Group has a 12-month low of $45.63 and a 12-month high of $65.33.

Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT) last released its earnings results on Friday, August 2nd. The financial services provider reported $1.91 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.68 by $0.23. Essent Group had a net margin of 61.31% and a return on equity of 14.40%. The company had revenue of $272.90 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $308.33 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.61 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 9.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Essent Group will post 7.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Essent Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 10th. Investors of record on Friday, August 30th were issued a $0.28 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 30th. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.76%. Essent Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.94%.

Insider Activity at Essent Group

In other Essent Group news, Director Roy James Kasmar sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.81, for a total value of $294,050.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 27,140 shares in the company, valued at $1,596,103.40. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Essent Group news, Director Roy James Kasmar sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.81, for a total transaction of $294,050.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 27,140 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,596,103.40. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Vijay Bhasin sold 11,188 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.14, for a total value of $672,846.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 199,359 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,989,450.26. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Essent Group

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Advisors Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Essent Group during the first quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new position in shares of Essent Group during the 2nd quarter valued at $47,000. Quarry LP raised its stake in shares of Essent Group by 167.1% in the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 836 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $47,000 after buying an additional 523 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Essent Group by 49.7% in the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,187 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $67,000 after buying an additional 394 shares during the period. Finally, Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC bought a new position in Essent Group during the second quarter valued at about $176,000. 93.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Essent Group Company Profile

Essent Group Ltd., through its subsidiaries, provides private mortgage insurance and reinsurance for mortgages secured by residential properties located in the United States. Its mortgage insurance products include primary, pool, and master policy. The company also provides information technology maintenance and development services; customer support-related services; underwriting consulting; and contract underwriting services, as well as risk management products and title insurance and settlement services.