Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNTGet Free Report) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the seven analysts that are covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and four have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $63.71.

A number of brokerages have recently commented on ESNT. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Essent Group from $58.00 to $59.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Essent Group in a report on Friday, May 9th. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Essent Group in a report on Friday, May 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Essent Group from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $60.00 target price for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Compass Point set a $69.00 target price on shares of Essent Group and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 23rd.

Get Our Latest Analysis on Essent Group

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Douglas J. Pauls sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.80, for a total transaction of $179,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 27,165 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,624,467. This represents a 9.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Mary Lourdes Gibbons sold 1,999 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.00, for a total transaction of $119,940.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 251,023 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,061,380. This represents a 0.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 9,740 shares of company stock valued at $581,386 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 2.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ESNT. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Essent Group in the fourth quarter valued at about $69,364,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in Essent Group by 1,272.6% in the first quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 970,969 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $56,044,000 after buying an additional 900,229 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP purchased a new position in Essent Group in the first quarter valued at about $41,084,000. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in Essent Group in the first quarter valued at about $34,060,000. Finally, Millennium Management LLC increased its holdings in Essent Group by 670.5% in the first quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 663,332 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $38,288,000 after buying an additional 577,245 shares in the last quarter. 93.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Essent Group Trading Down 0.7%

Essent Group stock opened at $55.69 on Friday. Essent Group has a 12-month low of $51.61 and a 12-month high of $65.34. The stock has a market cap of $5.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 8.19 and a beta of 0.81. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $58.67 and a 200-day simple moving average of $57.21.

Essent Group (NYSE:ESNTGet Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 9th. The financial services provider reported $1.69 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.66 by $0.03. Essent Group had a net margin of 57.29% and a return on equity of 12.98%. The firm had revenue of $317.56 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $311.18 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.70 earnings per share. Essent Group’s quarterly revenue was up 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Essent Group will post 6.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Essent Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 10th. Investors of record on Friday, May 30th were issued a dividend of $0.31 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 30th. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.23%. Essent Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 18.16%.

Essent Group Company Profile

(Get Free Report

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.

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Analyst Recommendations for Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT)

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