Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT) SVP Sells $291,584.00 in Stock

Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT) SVP Mary Lourdes Gibbons sold 4,352 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.00, for a total transaction of $291,584.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 237,896 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,939,032. This trade represents a 1.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website.

Essent Group Price Performance

Shares of ESNT stock opened at $65.82 on Thursday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $62.20 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $61.09. 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 52-week low of $51.61 and a 52-week high of $67.09. The stock has a market cap of $6.36 billion, a PE ratio of 9.58, a PEG ratio of 4.37 and a beta of 0.90.

Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 7th. The financial services provider reported $1.67 earnings per share 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 company had revenue of $311.83 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $316.84 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.65 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Essent Group Ltd. will post 6.88 EPS for the current year.

Essent Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 1st were given a dividend of $0.31 per share. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 1st. Essent Group’s payout ratio is presently 18.05%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently weighed in on ESNT. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Essent Group from $59.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a “cautious” rating in a research note on Monday, October 6th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b+)” rating on shares of Essent Group in a report on Monday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on shares of Essent Group from $71.00 to $73.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 18th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded Essent Group from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $66.00 to $65.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 7th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $66.67.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Essent Group

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Cooke & Bieler LP lifted its position in Essent Group by 19.6% in the 3rd quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP now owns 1,938,688 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $123,223,000 after acquiring an additional 318,318 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Essent Group by 78.9% in 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 purchasing an additional 669,577 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Essent Group in the 2nd quarter valued at about $75,596,000. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Essent Group by 45.2% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,198,447 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $76,173,000 after purchasing an additional 372,881 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Essent Group by 3.4% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,116,784 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $70,983,000 after buying an additional 36,586 shares during the period. Institutional investors 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.