Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT) Receives Consensus Rating of "Hold" from Analysts

Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT - Get Free Report) has earned an average recommendation of "Hold" from the seven research firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and three have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $62.71.

ESNT has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on shares of Essent Group from $68.00 to $60.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on shares of Essent Group from $73.00 to $67.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Barclays lowered shares of Essent Group from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $69.00 to $58.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Essent Group from $67.00 to $60.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on Essent Group from $75.00 to $72.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 8th.

Institutional Trading of Essent Group

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. UMB Bank n.a. increased its stake in Essent Group by 726.8% during the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 463 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 407 shares in the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Essent Group in the third quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Quarry LP lifted its stake in Essent Group by 167.1% during the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 836 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $47,000 after acquiring an additional 523 shares in the last quarter. R Squared Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Essent Group in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $63,000. Finally, Advisors Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Essent Group by 53.9% in the third quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,362 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $88,000 after acquiring an additional 477 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.00% of the company's stock.

Essent Group Price Performance

Shares of Essent Group stock traded down $0.18 on Friday, reaching $57.54. The company had a trading volume of 544,545 shares, compared to its average volume of 682,409. The firm has a market cap of $6.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.34, a P/E/G ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 1.11. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $55.70 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $59.29. Essent Group has a 1 year low of $50.65 and a 1 year high of $65.33.

Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 1st. The financial services provider reported $1.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.73 by ($0.08). Essent Group had a return on equity of 13.81% and a net margin of 60.15%. The company had revenue of $3.17 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $316.80 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.66 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 969.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Essent Group will post 6.94 EPS for the current year.

Essent Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 2nd were issued a $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.95%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 2nd. Essent Group's dividend payout ratio is currently 16.23%.

About Essent Group

Essent Group Ltd., through its subsidiaries, provides private mortgage insurance and reinsurance for mortgages secured by residential properties located in the United States. Its mortgage insurance products include primary, pool, and master policy. The company also provides information technology maintenance and development services; customer support-related services; underwriting consulting; and contract underwriting services, as well as risk management products and title insurance and settlement services.