Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT) Price Target Raised to $78.00

Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT) had its target price boosted by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $74.00 to $78.00 in a research note issued to investors on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods currently has an outperform rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

ESNT has been the subject of a number of other reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Essent Group from $65.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, July 13th. Royal Bank Of Canada initiated coverage on Essent Group in a research note on Friday, May 22nd. They issued a “sector perform” rating and a $68.00 price objective for the company. Roth Capital reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $65.00 price objective on shares of Essent Group in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Barclays raised 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 report on Monday. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised shares of Essent Group from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $71.86.

Essent Group Price Performance

Shares of ESNT opened at $68.28 on Monday. Essent Group has a 1-year low of $55.34 and a 1-year high of $70.00. The stock has a market cap of $6.14 billion, a PE ratio of 9.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a current ratio of 0.93 and a quick ratio of 1.32. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $63.48 and a 200 day moving average price of $61.70.

Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, June 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.08 earnings per share (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. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Essent Group will post 7.42 EPS for the current year.

Essent Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Investors of record on Monday, August 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.35 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 31st. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.1%. Essent Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 19.53%.

Insider Activity

In other Essent Group news, CFO David B. Weinstock sold 5,500 shares of Essent Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.51, for a total value of $349,305.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 35,494 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,254,223.94. This trade represents a 13.42% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Mark Casale sold 29,329 shares of Essent Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.35, for a total value of $1,916,650.15. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,184,143 shares in the company, valued at $142,733,745.05. This trade represents a 1.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 39,837 shares of company stock worth $2,591,612 in the last 90 days. 3.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Essent Group

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of ESNT. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in Essent Group in the 2nd quarter valued at $798,836,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Essent Group by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 11,987,945 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $779,336,000 after acquiring an additional 85,295 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Essent Group by 4.4% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,076,950 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $206,628,000 after acquiring an additional 129,672 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Essent Group in the fourth quarter valued at about $155,516,000. Finally, Cooke & Bieler LP boosted its holdings in shares of Essent Group by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP now owns 1,952,006 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $126,900,000 after acquiring an additional 13,318 shares in the last quarter. 93.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Essent Group

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.