Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT) Price Target Raised to $66.00

Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT) had its price target upped by Barclays from $65.00 to $66.00 in a report published on Monday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an equal weight rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

A number of other brokerages have also recently weighed in on ESNT. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Essent Group in a research note on Friday, September 18th. BTIG Research assumed coverage on shares of Essent Group in a research note on Tuesday, September 22nd. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Roth Capital lifted their target price 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on shares of Essent Group from $74.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, August 10th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Essent Group from $68.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, August 10th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $72.00.

Essent Group Stock Down 0.1%

Shares of ESNT stock opened at $61.82 on Monday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $66.79 and its 200 day simple moving average is $63.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a quick ratio of 1.18 and a current ratio of 1.18. Essent Group has a twelve month low of $55.34 and a twelve month high of $70.37. The company has a market capitalization of $5.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.62, a PEG ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.76.

Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, June 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.08 earnings per share for the quarter. The firm had revenue of $362.69 million during the quarter. Essent Group had a return on equity of 11.91% and a net margin of 51.45%. As a group, research analysts predict that Essent Group will post 7.6 EPS for the current year.

Essent Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 31st were given a $0.35 dividend. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 31st. Essent Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 19.53%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Essent Group news, Director Roy Kasmar sold 4,837 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, September 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.71, for a total value of $332,350.27. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 21,361 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,467,714.31. This represents a 18.46% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Mark Casale sold 798 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.01, for a total transaction of $55,867.98. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,038,893 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $142,742,898.93. This trade represents a 0.04% 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 a total of 70,146 shares of company stock valued at $4,900,365 in the last 90 days. 3.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. QRG Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Essent Group in the second quarter valued at about $216,000. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC increased its stake in Essent Group by 19.9% during the second quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 7,908 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $508,000 after acquiring an additional 1,315 shares during the period. WINTON GROUP Ltd acquired a new position in Essent Group in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $822,000. Engineers Gate Manager LP raised its holdings in Essent Group by 427.2% in the 2nd quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP now owns 34,582 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,223,000 after acquiring an additional 28,022 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC lifted its position in shares of Essent Group by 5.6% in the 2nd quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 67,373 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,331,000 after acquiring an additional 3,552 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 93.00% of the company’s stock.

About Essent Group

Essent Group Ltd. is a Bermuda-based holding company focused on private mortgage insurance and related risk-management solutions for the U.S. residential mortgage market. Through its subsidiaries, the company helps protect mortgage lenders and investors against losses when borrowers default on home loans.

Essent’s primary business is conducted through Essent Guaranty, Inc, which provides mortgage insurance for conventional residential mortgages, generally supporting loans made to borrowers with down payments below traditional thresholds.