Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT) Stock Rating Upgraded by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods

Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT) was upgraded by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a $73.00 price target on the financial services provider’s stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods’ target price suggests a potential upside of 30.78% from the company’s current price.

A number of other research firms also recently weighed in on ESNT. UBS Group cut their target price on Essent Group from $65.00 to $63.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on Essent Group from $65.00 to $64.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. Roth Mkm reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $65.00 target price on shares of Essent Group in a research report on Wednesday. Royal Bank Of Canada began coverage on Essent Group in a research report on Friday, May 22nd. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $68.00 target price for the company. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on Essent Group from $61.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, May 11th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $66.43.

Essent Group Stock Performance

ESNT opened at $55.82 on Thursday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $60.53 and a 200 day simple moving average of $61.63. The company has a market capitalization of $5.14 billion, a PE ratio of 7.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.78. Essent Group has a 1 year low of $55.22 and a 1 year high of $67.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a current ratio of 1.32 and a quick ratio of 1.32.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Mary Lourdes Gibbons sold 4,250 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the senior vice president owned 233,336 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,169,173.36. The trade was a 1.79% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Mark Casale sold 13,064 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.05, for a total value of $849,813.20. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,218,480 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $144,312,124. This trade represents a 0.59% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 25,814 shares of company stock valued at $1,661,682. Corporate insiders own 3.60% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Essent Group

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of ESNT. Sivia Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Essent Group during the 2nd quarter worth $346,000. M&T Bank Corp acquired a new position in shares of Essent Group during the 2nd quarter worth $239,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Essent Group by 160.0% during the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,080 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $126,000 after buying an additional 1,280 shares in the last quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Essent Group during the 2nd quarter worth $211,000. Finally, Jump Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Essent Group during the 2nd quarter worth $224,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.00% of the company’s stock.

Essent Group Company Profile

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.