Essent Group (ESNT) Stock Price, News & Analysis

Company Overview

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. It serves the originators of residential mortgage loans, such as regulated depository institutions, mortgage banks, credit unions, and other lenders. Essent Group Ltd. was incorporated in 2008 and is based in Hamilton, Bermuda.

Key Stats

• Today's Range: $52.37 to $53.88
• 50-Day Range: $52.73 to $64.85
• 52-Week Range: $50.65 to $65.33
• Volume: 2.32 million shs
• Average Volume: 547,618 shs
• Market Capitalization: $5.66 billion
• P/E Ratio: 7.72
• Dividend Yield: 2.10%
• Price Target: $64.71
• Consensus Rating: Moderate Buy

Essent Group Stock Analysis - MarketRank™

Essent Group scored higher than 92% of companies evaluated by MarketBeat, and ranked 116th out of 935 stocks in the finance sector. Scores are calculated by averaging available category scores, with extra weight given to analysis and valuation.

Analyst's Opinion

• Score: 3.3 / 5
• Analyst Rating: Moderate Buy

Consensus Rating

Essent Group has received a consensus rating of Moderate Buy. The company's average rating score is 2.57, and is based on 4 buy ratings, 3 hold ratings, and no sell ratings.

Amount of Analyst Coverage

Essent Group has been the subject of 5 research reports in the past 90 days, demonstrating strong analyst interest in this stock.

Earnings and Valuation

• Score: 1.9 / 5
• Proj. Earnings Growth: 0.43%

Earnings Growth

Earnings for Essent Group are expected to grow by 0.43% in the coming year, from $6.94 to $6.97 per share.

Price to Earnings Ratio vs. the Market

The P/E ratio of Essent Group is 7.72, which means that it is trading at a less expensive P/E ratio than the market average P/E ratio of about 113.35.

Price to Earnings Ratio vs. Sector

The P/E ratio of Essent Group is 7.72, which means that it is trading at a less expensive P/E ratio than the Finance sector average P/E ratio of about 25.79.

Price to Earnings Growth Ratio

Essent Group has a PEG Ratio of 2.60. PEG Ratios above 1 indicate that a company could be overvalued.

Price to Book Value per Share Ratio

Essent Group has a P/B Ratio of 1.11. P/B Ratios below 3 indicates that a company is reasonably valued with respect to its assets and liabilities.

Short Interest

• Score: 3.0 / 5
• Short Interest Level: Healthy

Percentage of Shares Shorted

1.60% of the float of Essent Group has been sold short.

Short Interest Ratio / Days to Cover

Essent Group has a short interest ratio ("days to cover") of 2.7, which is generally considered an acceptable ratio of short interest to trading volume.

Change versus previous month

Short interest in Essent Group has recently increased by 11.49%, indicating that investor sentiment is decreasing significantly.

Dividend

• Score: 2.5 / 5
• Dividend Strength: Moderate

Dividend Yield

Essent Group pays a meaningful dividend of 2.12%, higher than the bottom 25% of all stocks that pay dividends.

Dividend Growth

Essent Group does not have a long track record of dividend growth.

Dividend Coverage

The dividend payout ratio of Essent Group is 16.23%. This payout ratio is at a healthy, sustainable level, below 75%.

Dividend Sustainability

Based on earnings estimates, Essent Group will have a dividend payout ratio of 16.07% next year. This indicates that Essent Group will be able to sustain or increase its dividend.

Sustainability and ESG

• Score: 1.8 / 5
• Environmental Score: -0.45

Percentage of Shares Shorted

1.60% of the float of Essent Group has been sold short.

Short Interest Ratio / Days to Cover

Essent Group has a short interest ratio ("days to cover") of 2.7, which is generally considered an acceptable ratio of short interest to trading volume.

Change versus previous month

Short interest in Essent Group has recently increased by 11.49%, indicating that investor sentiment is decreasing significantly.

News and Social Media

• Score: 3.7 / 5
• News Sentiment: 1.68

News Sentiment

Essent Group has a news sentiment score of 1.68. This score is calculated as an average of sentiment of articles about the company over the last seven days and ranges from 2 (good news) to -2 (bad news). This is a higher news sentiment than the 0.75 average news sentiment score of Finance companies.

News Coverage This Week

MarketBeat has tracked 5 news articles for Essent Group this week, compared to 4 articles on an average week.

MarketBeat Follows

1 people have added Essent Group to their MarketBeat watchlist in the last 30 days.

Company Ownership

• Score: 1.7 / 5
• Insider Trading: N/A

Insider Buying vs. Insider Selling

In the past three months, Essent Group insiders have not sold or bought any company stock.

Percentage Held by Insiders

Only 2.90% of the stock of Essent Group is held by insiders.

Percentage Held by Institutions

93.00% of the stock of Essent Group is held by institutions. High institutional ownership can be a signal of strong market trust in this company.

ESNT Stock Analysis - Frequently Asked Questions

How have ESNT shares performed this year?

Essent Group's stock was trading at $52.74 at the beginning of 2024. Since then, ESNT shares have increased by 1.0% and is now trading at $53.26.
View the best growth stocks for 2024 here.

How were Essent Group's earnings last quarter?

Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT) posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November, 1st. The financial services provider reported $1.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.73 by $0.08. The firm's revenue was up 969.2% compared to the same quarter last year.

Who are Essent Group's major shareholders?

Top institutional shareholders of Essent Group include FMR LLC (8.40%), State Street Corp (3.96%), Geode Capital Management LLC (2.47%) and Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. (1.46%). Insiders that own company stock include Mary Lourdes Gibbons, Vijay Bhasin, Roy James Kasmar, Douglas J Pauls, David B Weinstock, Aditya Dutt, Mark Casale, Robert Glanville and Lawrence E Mcalee Jr.
View institutional ownership trends.

How do I buy shares of Essent Group?

Shares of ESNT stock can be purchased through any online brokerage account. Popular online brokerages with access to the U.S. stock market include Charles Schwab, E*TRADE, Fidelity, and Vanguard Brokerage Services.
Compare Top Brokerages Here.

What other stocks do shareholders of Essent Group own?

Based on aggregate information from My MarketBeat watchlists, some other companies that Essent Group investors own include American Water Works (AWK), DiamondRock Hospitality (DRH), Waste Connections (WCN), The RMR Group (RMR), AUO (AUOTY), iShares Micro-Cap ETF (IWC) and Triple Flag Precious Metals (TFPM).

Company Calendar

• Last Earnings: 11/01/2024
• Ex-Dividend for 12/11 Dividend: 12/02/2024
• Dividend Payable: 12/11/2024
• Today: 12/22/2024
• Fiscal Year End: 12/31/2024

Industry, Sector and Symbol

• Stock Exchange: NYSE
• Sector: Finance
• Industry: Surety insurance
• Sub-Industry: Insurance
• Current Symbol: NYSE:ESNT
• CUSIP: N/A
• CIK: 1448893
• Web: www.essentgroup.com
• Phone: (441) 297-9901
• Fax: N/A
• Employees: 350
• Year Founded: 2008

Price Target and Rating

• Average Stock Price Target: $64.71
• High Stock Price Target: $75.00
• Low Stock Price Target: $58.00
• Potential Upside/Downside: +21.5%
• Consensus Rating: Moderate Buy
• Rating Score (0-4): 2.57
• Research Coverage: 7 Analysts

Profitability

• EPS (Most Recent Fiscal Year): $6.90
• Trailing P/E Ratio: 7.72
• Forward P/E Ratio: 7.67
• P/E Growth: 2.6
• Net Income: $696.39 million
• Net Margins: 60.15%
• Pretax Margin: 70.48%
• Return on Equity: 13.81%
• Return on Assets: 10.99%

Debt

• Debt-to-Equity Ratio: N/A
• Current Ratio: 2.12
• Quick Ratio: 2.12

Sales & Book Value

• Annual Sales: $1.23 billion
• Price / Sales: 4.62
• Cash Flow: $6.43 per share
• Price / Cash Flow: 8.28
• Book Value: $47.79 per share
• Price / Book: 1.11

Miscellaneous

• Outstanding Shares: 106,213,000
• Free Float: 103,133,000
• Market Cap: $5.66 billion
• Optionable: Optionable
• Beta: 1.09