Insider Selling: Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT) SVP Sells 4,352 Shares of Stock

Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT) SVP Mary Lourdes Gibbons sold 4,352 shares of Essent Group stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.00, for a total transaction of $291,584.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 237,896 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,939,032. This trade represents a 1.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink.

Essent Group Stock Down 0.7%

ESNT stock traded down $0.45 during trading on Monday, hitting $65.81. 566,650 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 714,204. The stock has a market cap of $6.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.40 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a current ratio of 1.68 and a quick ratio of 1.68. Essent Group Ltd. has a 1 year low of $51.61 and a 1 year high of $67.09. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $61.98 and its two-hundred day moving average is $61.00.

Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT) last posted its earnings results on Friday, November 7th. The financial services provider reported $1.67 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.75 by ($0.08). The business had revenue of $311.83 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $316.84 million. Essent Group had a return on equity of 12.40% and a net margin of 55.63%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.65 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Essent Group Ltd. will post 6.88 EPS for the current year.

Essent Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 10th. Investors of record on Monday, December 1st were given a $0.31 dividend. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 1st. Essent Group’s payout ratio is currently 18.05%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Essent Group during the 2nd quarter worth $75,596,000. Wellington Management Group LLP acquired a new position in Essent Group in the 1st quarter valued at $41,084,000. 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 worth $92,180,000 after purchasing an additional 669,577 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Essent Group by 670.5% in the 1st quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 663,332 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $38,288,000 after buying an additional 577,245 shares during the period. Finally, Jane Street Group LLC raised its position in Essent Group by 760.5% in the first quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 367,460 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $21,210,000 after acquiring an additional 324,757 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ESNT has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on Essent Group from $71.00 to $73.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Barclays lifted their target price on Essent Group from $59.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a “cautious” rating in a research report on Monday, October 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered shares of Essent Group from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $66.00 to $65.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 7th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b+)” rating on shares of Essent Group in a report on Monday, December 15th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Essent Group presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $66.67.

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.