Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT) Announces Quarterly Earnings Results, Misses Estimates By $0.09 EPS

Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT - Get Free Report) issued its earnings results on Friday. The financial services provider reported $1.58 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.67 by ($0.09), Zacks reports. Essent Group had a return on equity of 13.81% and a net margin of 60.15%. The company had revenue of $315.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $313.88 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.64 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year.

Essent Group Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE:ESNT traded down $0.09 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $56.33. The stock had a trading volume of 1,381,931 shares, compared to its average volume of 799,182. Essent Group has a fifty-two week low of $51.69 and a fifty-two week high of $65.33. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $56.16 and a 200-day moving average price of $59.02. The stock has a market cap of $5.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.16, a PEG ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 1.11.

Essent Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.31 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This is an increase from Essent Group's previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.20%. Essent Group's payout ratio is 16.23%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on ESNT shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Essent Group from $67.00 to $60.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, December 9th. Barclays lowered Essent Group from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and lowered their target price for the company from $69.00 to $58.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $67.00 price objective on shares of Essent Group in a research report on Tuesday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their target price on shares of Essent Group from $72.00 to $71.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut 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 report on Tuesday, November 5th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $62.57.

Essent Group Company Profile

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.