Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT) Receives $71.86 Average Price Target from Brokerages

by · The Markets Daily

Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT – Get Free Report) has received an average rating of “Hold” from the eight analysts that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating on the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $71.8571.

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on ESNT. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on Essent Group from $74.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, August 10th. Barclays increased their price objective on Essent Group from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, August 10th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Essent Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 15th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their target price on Essent Group from $68.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, August 10th. Finally, Roth Capital lifted their target price on Essent Group from $65.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 10th.

View Our Latest Research Report on ESNT

Essent Group Stock Performance

Shares of ESNT stock opened at $67.20 on Thursday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $67.60 and its 200 day moving average is $62.89. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.37, a PEG ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 0.76. Essent Group has a 12 month low of $55.34 and a 12 month high of $70.37. The company has a current ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 1.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09.

Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT – Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, June 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.08 earnings per share for the quarter. Essent Group had a net margin of 51.45% and a return on equity of 11.91%. The business had revenue of $362.69 million during the quarter. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Essent Group will post 7.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Essent Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 31st were given a $0.35 dividend. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 31st. Essent Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 19.53%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Essent Group news, SVP Vijay Bhasin sold 14,175 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.00, for a total value of $992,250.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 184,274 shares in the company, valued at $12,899,180. This represents a 7.14% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO David B. Weinstock sold 5,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.51, for a total transaction of $349,305.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly 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 ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 109,983 shares of company stock valued at $7,491,977 in the last three months. Insiders own 3.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in Essent Group during the second quarter valued at $798,836,000. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Essent Group by 4.4% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,076,950 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $206,628,000 after acquiring an additional 129,672 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Essent Group in the 4th quarter worth about $155,516,000. Cooke & Bieler LP raised its holdings in shares of Essent Group by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP now owns 1,952,006 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $126,900,000 after acquiring an additional 13,318 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Renaissancere Holdings Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Essent Group in the 2nd quarter valued at about $107,114,521. Institutional investors own 93.00% of the company’s stock.

Essent Group Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE: ESNT) is a Bermuda-based holding company that provides private mortgage insurance and related risk-management services for the U.S. residential housing market. Through its operating subsidiaries, the company helps mortgage lenders manage the credit risk associated with low-down-payment home loans.

Essent’s principal business is mortgage insurance, which protects lenders and other mortgage investors against losses if a borrower defaults. Its products are generally used with conventional residential mortgages that have loan-to-value ratios above the levels traditionally eligible for uninsured financing.

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