Essent Group Ltd. (ESNT) To Go Ex-Dividend on June 1st

Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT) declared a quarterly dividend on Friday, May 8th. Investors of record on Monday, June 1st will be given a dividend of 0.35 per share by the financial services provider on Wednesday, June 10th. This represents a c) annualized dividend and a yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 1st.

Essent Group has increased its dividend payment by an average of 0.1%per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 6 years. Essent Group has a dividend payout ratio of 19.2% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Essent Group to earn $7.70 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.40 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 18.2%.

Essent Group Stock Down 0.8%

ESNT opened at $57.90 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $60.60 and a 200 day moving average of $61.74. The company has a market cap of $5.34 billion, a PE ratio of 8.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.81. Essent Group has a 12 month low of $55.22 and a 12 month high of $67.09. The company has a current ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 1.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09.

Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, May 8th. The financial services provider reported $1.82 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.68 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $336.07 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $297.56 million. Essent Group had a net margin of 53.64% and a return on equity of 12.01%. Essent Group’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.69 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Essent Group will post 7.25 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Essent Group

In other Essent Group news, CEO Mark Casale sold 13,064 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.05, for a total value of $849,813.20. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,218,480 shares in the company, valued at $144,312,124. This represents a 0.59% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, SVP Mary Lourdes Gibbons sold 4,250 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.01, for a total transaction of $276,292.50. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 233,336 shares in the company, valued at $15,169,173.36. This represents a 1.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 25,814 shares of company stock worth $1,661,682 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 3.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Essent Group

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in ESNT. Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC increased its holdings in Essent Group by 3.6% during the third quarter. Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC now owns 4,832 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $302,000 after buying an additional 166 shares during the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its holdings in Essent Group by 5.6% during the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 3,238 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $211,000 after buying an additional 172 shares during the last quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. increased its holdings in Essent Group by 45.5% during the third quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 624 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 195 shares during the last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Essent Group by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 16,584 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,078,000 after buying an additional 204 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund increased its holdings in Essent Group by 0.4% during the third quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 51,945 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,302,000 after buying an additional 218 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.