Vijay Bhasin Sells 14,175 Shares of Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT) Stock

Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT) SVP Vijay Bhasin sold 14,175 shares of Essent Group stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.00, for a total transaction of $992,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 184,274 shares in the company, valued at $12,899,180. The trade was a 7.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Vijay Bhasin also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Friday, August 7th, Vijay Bhasin sold 483 shares of Essent Group stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.00, for a total transaction of $33,810.00.

Essent Group Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ESNT opened at $69.12 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.64, a PEG ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 0.76. The business has a 50-day moving average of $64.65 and a 200-day moving average of $61.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a current ratio of 1.18 and a quick ratio of 1.18. Essent Group Ltd. has a fifty-two week low of $55.34 and a fifty-two week high of $70.37.

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

Essent Group Announces Dividend

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Essent Group

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Essent Group in the third quarter valued at $25,000. Measured Wealth Private Client Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Essent Group during the 3rd quarter worth about $27,000. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Essent Group during the 4th quarter worth about $27,000. Allworth Financial LP bought a new stake in shares of Essent Group during the 2nd quarter worth about $31,000. Finally, IFP Advisors Inc grew its stake in Essent Group by 97.1% in the 4th quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 676 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $44,000 after buying an additional 333 shares during the last quarter. 93.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ESNT has been the subject of several analyst reports. Roth Capital raised their target price on shares of Essent Group from $65.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 10th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Essent Group from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Essent Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 15th. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Essent Group from $68.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, August 10th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Essent Group from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 10th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently 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.