Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT) Price Target Raised to $75.00

Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT) had its target price boosted by Royal Bank Of Canada from $68.00 to $75.00 in a research report released on Monday,Benzinga reports. Royal Bank Of Canada currently has a sector perform rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Weiss Ratings upgraded Essent Group from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Roth Capital raised their price target on Essent Group from $65.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. Barclays lifted their price target on Essent Group from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Essent Group from $65.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, July 13th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on Essent Group from $74.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $71.86.

Essent Group Stock Up 1.0%

Shares of Essent Group stock opened at $68.28 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $6.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.52, a PEG ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a quick ratio of 1.32 and a current ratio of 0.93. Essent Group has a one year low of $55.34 and a one year high of $70.00. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $63.48 and a two-hundred day moving average of $61.70.

Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, June 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.08 earnings per share for the quarter. The business 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%. On average, analysts forecast that Essent Group will post 7.42 earnings per share for the current year.

Essent Group Announces Dividend

The company 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 $0.35 dividend. The ex-dividend date 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 is currently 19.53%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Essent Group 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 transaction of $1,916,650.15. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,184,143 shares in the company, valued at approximately $142,733,745.05. The trade was a 1.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO David B. Weinstock sold 5,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief financial officer owned 35,494 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,254,223.94. The trade was 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. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 39,837 shares of company stock worth $2,591,612. Insiders own 3.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in Essent Group during the second quarter worth $798,836,000. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Essent Group in the fourth quarter valued at $155,516,000. Renaissancere Holdings Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Essent Group in the second quarter valued at $107,114,521,000. Deutsche Bank AG purchased a new stake in shares of Essent Group in the second quarter valued at $43,068,000. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Essent Group by 78.9% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,517,859 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $92,180,000 after acquiring an additional 669,577 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.00% of the company’s stock.

Essent Group Company Profile

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.