Insider Selling: Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT) Director Sells 3,250 Shares of Stock

Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT) Director Roy James Kasmar sold 3,250 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.44, for a total value of $199,680.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 23,573 shares in the company, valued at $1,448,325.12. This represents a 12.12% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link.

Essent Group Price Performance

ESNT traded down $0.23 on Friday, hitting $62.76. 338,538 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 710,516. The business’s fifty day moving average is $61.40 and its 200 day moving average is $60.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.18 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a quick ratio of 1.68 and a current ratio of 1.68. Essent Group Ltd. has a fifty-two week low of $51.61 and a fifty-two week high of $65.90.

Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 7th. The financial services provider reported $1.67 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.75 by ($0.08). Essent Group had a net margin of 55.63% and a return on equity of 12.40%. The business had revenue of $311.83 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $316.84 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.65 earnings per share. Essent Group’s revenue was down 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Essent Group Ltd. will post 6.88 EPS for the current year.

Essent Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 10th. Investors of record on Monday, December 1st will be given a $0.31 dividend. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 1st. Essent Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 18.05%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Essent Group

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Essent Group during the second quarter worth approximately $75,596,000. Wellington Management Group LLP acquired a new stake in Essent Group in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $41,084,000. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Essent Group by 78.9% during the 2nd 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 in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in Essent Group during the 1st quarter worth $34,060,000. Finally, Millennium Management LLC boosted its position in Essent Group by 670.5% during the 1st quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 663,332 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $38,288,000 after acquiring an additional 577,245 shares during the period. 93.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently weighed in on ESNT shares. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b+)” rating on shares of Essent Group in a research report on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded Essent Group from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $66.00 to $65.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $60.00 target price on Essent Group and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Barclays boosted their price target on Essent Group from $59.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a “cautious” rating in a research report on Monday, October 6th. Finally, Compass Point reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Essent Group in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $65.67.

About Essent Group

Essent Group Ltd., through its subsidiaries, provides private mortgage insurance and reinsurance for mortgages secured by residential properties located in the United States. Its mortgage insurance products include primary, pool, and master policy. The company also provides information technology maintenance and development services; customer support-related services; underwriting consulting; and contract underwriting services, as well as risk management products and title insurance and settlement services.