Roy James Kasmar Sells 4,837 Shares of Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT) Stock

Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNTGet Free Report) Director Roy Kasmar sold 4,837 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.71, for a total value of $332,350.27. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 21,361 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,467,714.31. The trade was a 18.46% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Essent Group Stock Performance

NYSE ESNT traded up $0.58 on Monday, hitting $68.76. 554,069 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 718,964. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a current ratio of 1.18 and a quick ratio of 1.18. The business’s fifty day moving average is $67.25 and its 200 day moving average is $62.65. Essent Group Ltd. has a 52 week low of $55.34 and a 52 week high of $70.37. The company has a market capitalization of $6.18 billion, a PE ratio of 9.59, a P/E/G ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 0.76.

Essent Group (NYSE:ESNTGet Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, June 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.08 EPS for the quarter. The company had revenue of $362.69 million during the quarter. Essent Group had a net margin of 51.45% and a return on equity of 11.91%. Research analysts anticipate that Essent Group Ltd. will post 7.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Essent Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 10th. Investors of record on Monday, August 31st were issued a dividend of $0.35 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 31st. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.0%. Essent Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 19.53%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on Essent Group from $74.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, August 10th. Roth Capital boosted their target price on Essent Group from $65.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Essent Group from $65.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, July 13th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price target on Essent Group from $68.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, August 10th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised shares of Essent Group from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $71.86.

Get Our Latest Report on ESNT

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Essent Group in the second quarter valued at approximately $798,836,000. California State Teachers Retirement System increased its stake in Essent Group by 5,609.6% during the 2nd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 6,597,378 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $424,079,000 after acquiring an additional 6,481,829 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Essent Group by 4.4% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,076,950 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $206,628,000 after acquiring an additional 129,672 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Essent Group in the 4th quarter valued at $155,516,000. Finally, Cooke & Bieler LP lifted its position in shares of Essent Group by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP now owns 1,952,006 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $126,900,000 after acquiring an additional 13,318 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.00% of the company’s stock.

About Essent Group

(Get Free Report)

Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE: ESNT) is a Bermuda-based holding company that provides private mortgage insurance and related risk-management services for the U.S. residential housing market. Through its operating subsidiaries, the company helps mortgage lenders manage the credit risk associated with low-down-payment home loans.

Essent’s principal business is mortgage insurance, which protects lenders and other mortgage investors against losses if a borrower defaults. Its products are generally used with conventional residential mortgages that have loan-to-value ratios above the levels traditionally eligible for uninsured financing.

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Insider Buying and Selling by Quarter for Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT)

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