Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT - Get Free Report) Director Douglas Pauls sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.70, for a total transaction of $174,250.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 30,154 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,101,733.80. This trade represents a 7.66% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink.
Essent Group Trading Up 0.9%
Shares of Essent Group stock opened at $69.09 on Wednesday. Essent Group Ltd. has a twelve month low of $55.34 and a twelve month high of $70.37. The company has a quick ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 1.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $65.46 and a 200-day moving average price of $62.10. The firm has a market cap of $6.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.64, a PEG ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 0.76.
Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, June 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.08 EPS for the quarter. Essent Group had a return on equity of 11.91% and a net margin of 51.45%.The company had revenue of $362.69 million for the quarter. Equities research analysts anticipate that Essent Group Ltd. will post 7.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Essent Group Dividend Announcement
The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.35 per share. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 31st. Essent Group's dividend payout ratio is 19.53%.
Hedge Funds Weigh In On Essent Group
Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in Essent Group in the second quarter worth about $798,836,000. California State Teachers Retirement System boosted its holdings in Essent Group by 5,609.6% during the 2nd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 6,597,378 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $424,079,000 after acquiring an additional 6,481,829 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Essent Group during the 4th quarter valued at $155,516,000. Renaissancere Holdings Ltd. bought a new position in Essent Group in the 2nd quarter valued at $107,114,521,000. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG bought a new position in Essent Group in the 2nd quarter valued at $43,068,000. 93.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
A number of research firms recently weighed in on ESNT. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Essent Group from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "buy (b)" rating in a report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Essent Group from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, August 15th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on shares of Essent Group from $74.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, August 10th. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of 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 upped their target price on shares of Essent Group from $65.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, August 10th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $71.86.
Check Out Our Latest Analysis on ESNT
Essent Group Company Profile
(
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.
See Also
This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from InsiderTrades.com in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. Please send any questions or comments about this story to [email protected].
