Vijay Bhasin Sells 483 Shares of Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT) Stock

Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT) SVP Vijay Bhasin sold 483 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.00, for a total transaction of $33,810.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 198,449 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,891,430. This trade represents a 0.24% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Essent Group Stock Performance

NYSE ESNT traded up $0.25 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $69.53. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 368,926 shares, compared to its average volume of 521,512. The company has a current ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 1.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $63.96 and a 200 day simple moving average of $61.81. Essent Group Ltd. has a 52 week low of $55.34 and a 52 week high of $70.00. The stock has a market cap of $6.25 billion, a PE ratio of 9.70, a PEG ratio of 1.79 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 EPS for the quarter. The company 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%. Equities research analysts predict that Essent Group Ltd. will post 7.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Essent Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Investors of record on Monday, August 31st will be given a dividend of $0.35 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 31st. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.0%. Essent Group’s payout ratio is currently 19.53%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Essent Group

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in Essent Group in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $798,836,000. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Essent Group during the 4th quarter valued at $155,516,000. Renaissancere Holdings Ltd. bought a new stake in Essent Group during the 2nd quarter valued at $107,114,521,000. Deutsche Bank AG acquired a new position in Essent Group during the 2nd quarter worth $43,068,000. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position 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 worth $92,180,000 after acquiring an additional 669,577 shares during the period. 93.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ESNT has been the topic of several analyst reports. Roth Capital increased their target price on Essent Group from $65.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on shares of Essent Group from $74.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Essent Group from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price target 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. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised shares of Essent Group from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $71.86.

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.