Insider Selling: Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT) CFO Sells $376,970.00 in Stock

Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT) CFO David Weinstock sold 5,500 shares of Essent Group stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.54, for a total value of $376,970.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 29,994 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,055,788.76. This represents a 15.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Essent Group Trading Down 0.4%

Shares of Essent Group stock traded down $0.25 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $67.57. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 583,715 shares, compared to its average volume of 720,815. Essent Group Ltd. has a 12 month low of $55.34 and a 12 month high of $70.37. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $67.47 and a 200 day moving average of $62.81. The company has a market capitalization of $6.07 billion, a PE ratio of 9.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a current ratio of 1.18 and a quick ratio of 1.18.

Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT) last released its quarterly 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. Analysts predict that Essent Group Ltd. will post 7.6 earnings per share for the current 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 issued a dividend of $0.35 per share. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 31st. Essent Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 19.53%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price target on shares of Essent Group from $68.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, August 10th. Roth Capital raised their price objective on shares of Essent Group from $65.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Essent Group from $65.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, July 13th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Essent Group from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 10th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Essent Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 15th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $71.86.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Essent Group

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. William Blair Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Essent Group in the fourth quarter valued at about $27,983,000. Renaissancere Holdings Ltd. acquired a new position in Essent Group during the second quarter valued at approximately $107,114,521. Fox Run Management L.L.C. bought a new position in Essent Group in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,485,000. GSA Capital Partners LLP bought a new position in Essent Group in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,136,000. Finally, Summit Global Investments acquired a new position in shares of Essent Group during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,082,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.00% of the company’s stock.

About Essent Group

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.