Key Points
- Essent Group director Roy Kasmar sold 4,837 shares for approximately $332,350 under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan, reducing his direct holdings by 18.46% to 21,361 shares.
- ESNT shares opened at $68.76, near their 12-month high of $70.37. The company reported quarterly EPS of $2.08 on $362.69 million in revenue and is expected to earn $7.60 per share for the fiscal year.
- Essent recently paid a quarterly dividend of $0.35, equivalent to a 2.0% annual yield. Analysts maintain a consensus “Hold” rating with an average price target of $71.86, while institutional investors own 93% of the stock.
Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT - Get Free Report) Director Roy Kasmar sold 4,837 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.71, for a total value of $332,350.27. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 21,361 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,467,714.31. The trade was a 18.46% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.
Essent Group Stock Up 0.9%
ESNT stock opened at $68.76 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $67.33 and a 200-day moving average price of $62.71. Essent Group Ltd. 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. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 0.76.
Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, June 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The company had revenue of $362.69 million for the quarter. Essent Group had a net margin of 51.45% and a return on equity of 11.91%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Essent Group Ltd. will post 7.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Essent Group Dividend Announcement
The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 31st were given a $0.35 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 31st. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.0%. Essent Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 19.53%.
Institutional Investors Weigh In On Essent Group
Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in Essent Group in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $798,836,000. California State Teachers Retirement System raised its stake in shares of Essent Group by 5,609.6% during the second 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 last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Essent Group by 4.4% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,076,950 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $206,628,000 after purchasing an additional 129,672 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Essent Group during the fourth quarter worth $155,516,000. Finally, Cooke & Bieler LP lifted its holdings in shares of Essent Group by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP now owns 1,952,006 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $126,900,000 after purchasing an additional 13,318 shares during the period. 93.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Wall Street Analyst Weigh In
Several brokerages have recently issued reports on ESNT. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price target on shares of Essent Group from $68.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a report on Monday, August 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on Essent Group from $74.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, August 10th. Roth Capital boosted their price objective on Essent Group from $65.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, August 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Essent Group from $65.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, July 13th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised Essent Group from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "buy (b)" rating in a report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Essent Group presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $71.86.
View Our Latest Stock Analysis on Essent Group
About Essent Group
(
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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