Mark Casale Sells 3,763 Shares of Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT) Stock

Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT) CEO Mark Casale sold 3,763 shares of Essent Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.01, for a total transaction of $244,632.63. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,214,717 shares in the company, valued at $143,978,752.17. This trade represents a 0.17% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Mark Casale also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Tuesday, April 28th, Mark Casale sold 13,064 shares of Essent Group stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.05, for a total transaction of $849,813.20.

Essent Group Price Performance

ESNT stock opened at $64.80 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a quick ratio of 1.32 and a current ratio of 1.32. Essent Group Ltd. has a 52 week low of $55.22 and a 52 week high of $67.09. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $60.62 and its 200 day moving average is $61.33. The firm has a market cap of $5.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.23, a P/E/G ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 0.76.

Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 8th. The financial services provider reported $1.82 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.68 by $0.14. Essent Group had a net margin of 53.64% and a return on equity of 12.01%. The business had revenue of $336.07 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $297.56 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.69 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.8% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that Essent Group Ltd. will post 7.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Essent Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 1st were paid a $0.35 dividend. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 1st. Essent Group’s payout ratio is 19.94%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Sivia Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Essent Group during the second quarter valued at approximately $346,000. M&T Bank Corp bought a new position in Essent Group in the second quarter worth $239,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in Essent Group by 160.0% during the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,080 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $126,000 after buying an additional 1,280 shares during the period. Baird Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in Essent Group during the second quarter valued at $211,000. Finally, Jump Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of Essent Group during the 2nd quarter valued at $224,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ESNT has been the topic of several recent research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on Essent Group from $73.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 25th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Essent Group from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Royal Bank Of Canada assumed coverage on Essent Group in a research note on Friday, May 22nd. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $68.00 price objective for the company. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Essent Group from $65.00 to $63.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 12th. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Essent Group from $61.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $66.57.

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.