Essent Group Ltd. (ESNT) To Go Ex-Dividend on August 31st

Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT) announced a quarterly dividend on Friday, August 7th. Investors of record on Monday, August 31st will be paid a dividend of 0.35 per share by the financial services provider on Thursday, September 10th. This represents a c) annualized dividend and a yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 31st.

Essent Group has increased its dividend payment by an average of 0.1%per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 6 consecutive years. Essent Group has a dividend payout ratio of 19.2% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Essent Group to earn $7.67 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.40 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 18.3%.

Essent Group Trading Up 4.7%

Essent Group stock opened at $68.56 on Friday. Essent Group has a 52 week low of $55.34 and a 52 week high of $70.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a quick ratio of 1.32 and a current ratio of 1.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.56, a PEG ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 0.76. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $62.79 and a 200 day simple moving average of $61.56.

Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, June 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The firm had revenue of $362.69 million for the quarter. Essent Group had a return on equity of 12.01% and a net margin of 53.64%. Analysts expect that Essent Group will post 7.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Essent Group

In related news, CEO Mark Casale sold 29,329 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.35, for a total value of $1,916,650.15. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,184,143 shares in the company, valued at $142,733,745.05. The trade was a 1.33% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO David B. Weinstock sold 5,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.51, for a total value of $349,305.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 35,494 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,254,223.94. This represents a 13.42% 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 have sold 39,837 shares of company stock valued at $2,591,612 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 3.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Essent Group

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Meeder Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Essent Group in the second quarter valued at about $227,000. Renaissancere Holdings Ltd. bought a new position in Essent Group during the second quarter worth about $107,114,521,000. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in Essent Group during the second quarter worth about $798,836,000. Deutsche Bank AG acquired a new stake in Essent Group in the 2nd quarter worth about $43,068,000. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in Essent Group in the 2nd quarter worth about $55,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.00% of the company’s stock.

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.