Insider Selling: Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT) CEO Sells $1,514,002.49 in Stock

Posted by Brenda Bartman on Aug 23rd, 2026

Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT – Get Free Report) CEO Mark Casale sold 21,607 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.07, for a total transaction of $1,514,002.49. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,039,691 shares in the company, valued at $142,921,148.37. This represents a 1.05% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Mark Casale also recently made the following trade(s):

On Tuesday, August 18th, Mark Casale sold 20,246 shares of Essent Group stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.18, for a total transaction of $1,420,864.28.
On Tuesday, July 7th, Mark Casale sold 29,329 shares of Essent Group stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.35, for a total transaction of $1,916,650.15.
On Monday, July 6th, Mark Casale sold 1,245 shares of Essent Group stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.08, for a total value of $81,024.60.
On Tuesday, June 30th, Mark Casale sold 3,763 shares of Essent Group stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.01, for a total value of $244,632.63.

Essent Group Stock Performance

ESNT stock opened at $68.10 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a current ratio of 1.18 and a quick ratio of 1.18. Essent Group Ltd. has a 1 year low of $55.34 and a 1 year high of $70.37. The company has a market cap of $6.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 0.76. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $65.06 and its 200-day moving average price is $62.04.

Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT – Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, June 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.08 EPS for the quarter. Essent Group had a return on equity of 11.91% and a net margin of 51.45%.The company had revenue of $362.69 million during the quarter. On average, equities analysts forecast that Essent Group Ltd. will post 7.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Essent Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.35 per share. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 31st. Essent Group’s payout ratio is currently 19.53%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ESNT has been the topic of several recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Essent Group from $65.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, July 13th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Essent Group from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of Essent Group from $74.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, August 10th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Essent Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 15th. Finally, Roth Capital lifted their price target on shares of Essent Group from $65.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 10th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $71.86.

Check Out Our Latest Stock Analysis on ESNT

Institutional Trading of Essent Group

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Essent Group during the 2nd quarter valued at $798,836,000. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Essent Group in the 4th quarter worth $155,516,000. Renaissancere Holdings Ltd. purchased a new stake in Essent Group in the 2nd quarter worth $107,114,521,000. Deutsche Bank AG purchased a new stake in Essent Group in the 2nd quarter worth $43,068,000. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Essent Group by 78.9% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,517,859 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $92,180,000 after acquiring an additional 669,577 shares during the period. 93.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Essent Group

(Get Free Report)

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.