Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT) Shareholders to Receive $0.35 Quarterly Dividend

Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT) declared a quarterly dividend on Friday, November 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 1st will be given a dividend of $0.35 per share by the financial services provider on Thursday, December 10th. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 1st.

Essent Group has increased its dividend by an average of 0.1% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 6 years. Essent Group has a dividend payout ratio of 19.2% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Essent Group to earn $7.77 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.40 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 18.0%.

Essent Group Stock Performance

NYSE ESNT opened at $63.36 on Friday. 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 has a 1-year low of $55.34 and a 1-year high of $71.84. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $65.58 and its 200-day simple moving average is $63.09. The company has a market cap of $5.69 billion, a PE ratio of 8.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 0.71.

Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT) last announced its earnings results on Friday, November 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.82 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.85 by ($0.03). Essent Group had a net margin of 51.45% and a return on equity of 11.91%. The company had revenue of $374.18 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $344.17 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.67 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Essent Group will post 7.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Vijay Bhasin sold 14,175 shares of Essent Group stock in a transaction dated 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 directly 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 filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Mark Casale sold 21,607 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.07, for a total transaction of $1,514,002.49. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,039,691 shares in the company, valued at $142,921,148.37. This trade represents a 1.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 69,663 shares of company stock valued at $4,866,555. 3.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Hsbc Holdings PLC lifted its position in Essent Group by 796.8% in the 2nd quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 32,107 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,084,000 after acquiring an additional 28,527 shares in the last quarter. Renaissancere Holdings Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Essent Group in the 2nd quarter worth $107,114,521. Legal & General Group Plc bought a new stake in Essent Group in the second quarter worth $8,187,000. Summit Global Investments bought a new stake in shares of Essent Group during the second quarter valued at approximately $1,082,000. Finally, Ieq Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Essent Group during the second quarter valued at $2,161,000. Institutional investors own 93.00% of the company’s stock.

About Essent Group

Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE: ESNT) is a Bermuda-based holding company that provides private mortgage insurance and related risk-management services in the United States. Through its operating subsidiaries, the company helps protect mortgage lenders and investors against losses when borrowers default on residential mortgage loans.

Its principal business is mortgage insurance for low-down-payment conventional residential mortgages, enabling qualified borrowers to obtain home financing with less than a 20% down payment.