Essent Group Ltd. (ESNT) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.31 on December 10th

Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT) announced a quarterly dividend on Friday, November 7th. Investors of record on Monday, December 1st will be given a dividend of 0.31 per share by the financial services provider on Wednesday, December 10th. This represents a c) dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 1st.

Essent Group has increased its dividend by an average of 0.3%annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 6 consecutive years. Essent Group has a dividend payout ratio of 17.0% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Essent Group to earn $7.20 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.24 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 17.2%.

Essent Group Stock Up 0.6%

ESNT stock opened at $61.15 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $6.03 billion, a PE ratio of 8.90, a P/E/G ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 0.91. Essent Group has a 12 month low of $51.61 and a 12 month high of $65.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 1.24. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $61.91 and a 200 day simple moving average of $59.90.

Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 7th. The financial services provider reported $1.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.75 by ($0.08). The business had revenue of $298.41 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $316.84 million. Essent Group had a return on equity of 12.66% and a net margin of 56.36%.The company’s quarterly revenue was down 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.65 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Essent Group will post 6.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. DOWLING & PARTN downgraded Essent Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 12th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Essent Group from $59.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a “cautious” rating in a report on Monday, October 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $60.00 price objective on shares of Essent Group and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, August 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded shares of Essent Group from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $66.00 to $65.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 7th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Essent Group in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $65.67.

Essent Group Company Profile

Essent Group Ltd., through its subsidiaries, provides private mortgage insurance and reinsurance for mortgages secured by residential properties located in the United States. Its mortgage insurance products include primary, pool, and master policy. The company also provides information technology maintenance and development services; customer support-related services; underwriting consulting; and contract underwriting services, as well as risk management products and title insurance and settlement services.