Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT) Price Target Lowered to $61.00 at Barclays

Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT) had its price objective decreased by Barclays from $63.00 to $61.00 in a research report sent to investors on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. Barclays currently has an equal weight rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

Other analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $70.00 price target on shares of Essent Group in a research report on Tuesday, January 6th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b+)” rating on shares of Essent Group in a research report on Monday, December 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Essent Group from $65.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, January 12th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on Essent Group from $71.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 18th. Finally, Roth Mkm upped their price target on Essent Group from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 2nd. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $68.14.

Essent Group Trading Up 0.9%

Shares of NYSE:ESNT opened at $59.70 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.66, a PEG ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a current ratio of 1.20. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $60.44 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $61.71. Essent Group has a 52-week low of $51.61 and a 52-week high of $67.09.

Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT) last announced its earnings results on Saturday, February 14th. The financial services provider reported $1.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.74 by ($0.14). The firm had revenue of $312.40 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $312.62 million. Essent Group had a return on equity of 12.09% and a net margin of 54.72%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.58 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Essent Group will post 6.88 EPS for the current year.

Essent Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 23rd. Investors of record on Friday, March 13th were paid a dividend of $0.35 per share. This is a positive change from Essent Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 13th. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.3%. Essent Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.32%.

Institutional Trading of Essent Group

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Corient Private Wealth LLC boosted its stake in shares of Essent Group by 28.8% in the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 24,837 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,615,000 after buying an additional 5,559 shares during the last quarter. DGS Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Essent Group during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $302,000. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV raised its holdings in shares of Essent Group by 97.5% during the fourth quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 20,187 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,312,000 after acquiring an additional 9,964 shares during the last quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Essent Group during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $487,000. Finally, Tudor Investment Corp ET AL grew its position in shares of Essent Group by 17.3% in the fourth quarter. Tudor Investment Corp ET AL now owns 513,652 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $33,393,000 after purchasing an additional 75,762 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.00% of the company’s stock.

About Essent Group

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.