Key Points
- Essent SVP Mary Lourdes Gibbons sold 7,628 shares on April 20 at an average price of $63.01 for about $480,640, reducing her stake by 3.11% to 237,586 shares; the sale was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.
- Essent recently reported Q4 EPS of $1.60 (missing the $1.74 estimate) and raised its quarterly dividend to $0.35 (annualized $1.40, ~2.2% yield), while Wall Street’s consensus rating is a Hold with a $67.86 target price.
Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT - Get Free Report) SVP Mary Lourdes Gibbons sold 872 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.00, for a total value of $54,936.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 245,214 shares in the company, valued at $15,448,482. The trade was a 0.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.
Mary Lourdes Gibbons also recently made the following trade(s):
- On Monday, April 20th, Mary Lourdes Gibbons sold 7,628 shares of Essent Group stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.01, for a total value of $480,640.28.
Essent Group Stock Up 0.8%
Shares of ESNT opened at $63.15 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $5.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.17, a PEG ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a current ratio of 1.20 and a quick ratio of 1.20. Essent Group Ltd. has a one year low of $54.29 and a one year high of $67.09. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $59.94 and its 200-day simple moving average is $61.53.
Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Saturday, February 14th. The financial services provider reported $1.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.74 by ($0.14). Essent Group had a return on equity of 12.09% and a net margin of 54.72%.The firm had revenue of $312.40 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $312.62 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.58 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was down .8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Essent Group Ltd. will post 7.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Essent Group Increases Dividend
The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 23rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 13th were issued a dividend of $0.35 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 13th. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.2%. This is a positive change from Essent Group's previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. Essent Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 20.32%.
Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth
ESNT has been the topic of several research reports. Barclays reduced their price objective on Essent Group from $63.00 to $61.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 6th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "buy (b+)" rating on shares of Essent Group in a report on Monday, December 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $70.00 price objective on shares of Essent Group in a report on Tuesday, January 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Essent Group from $65.00 to $64.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 9th. Finally, Roth Mkm upped their price objective on Essent Group from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, January 2nd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $67.86.
Read Our Latest Report on ESNT
Institutional Trading of Essent Group
Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC raised its position in shares of Essent Group by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC now owns 4,832 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $302,000 after acquiring an additional 166 shares during the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Essent Group by 5.6% during the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 3,238 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $211,000 after acquiring an additional 172 shares during the last quarter. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC raised its position in shares of Essent Group by 5.2% during the 3rd quarter. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC now owns 3,551 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $212,000 after acquiring an additional 177 shares during the last quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. raised its position in shares of Essent Group by 45.5% during the 3rd quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 624 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 195 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Inspire Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Essent Group by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Inspire Advisors LLC now owns 11,830 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $752,000 after acquiring an additional 198 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.00% of the company's stock.
About Essent Group
(
Get Free Report)
Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE: ESNT) is a publicly traded insurance holding company specializing in private mortgage insurance and mortgage reinsurance solutions. Through its primary subsidiary, Essent Guaranty, the company provides credit protection to mortgage lenders, helping mitigate the risk of borrower default on residential mortgage loans. Essent's insurance policies enable lenders to offer low-down-payment programs, supporting homebuyers in achieving homeownership with reduced upfront equity requirements.
Beyond traditional mortgage insurance, Essent offers a suite of risk management and analytics services designed to help financial institutions monitor and manage mortgage portfolios.
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