JPMorgan Chase & Co. Increases Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT) Price Target to $62.00

Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT) had its price target upped by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $61.00 to $62.00 in a research report report published on Monday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a neutral rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

Other research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on shares of Essent Group from $62.00 to $64.00 and gave the company a market perform rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on shares of Essent Group from $64.00 to $61.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a report on Monday, May 6th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Essent Group from $57.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a report on Wednesday, May 22nd. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Essent Group currently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $59.88.

Essent Group Trading Up 3.1 %

NYSE:ESNT opened at $57.57 on Monday. Essent Group has a 1 year low of $45.63 and a 1 year high of $59.90. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $56.16 and a 200-day moving average of $54.98. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.11.

Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT) last posted its earnings results on Friday, May 3rd. The financial services provider reported $1.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.56 by $0.14. Essent Group had a net margin of 61.40% and a return on equity of 14.24%. The company had revenue of $298.40 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $298.69 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.59 earnings per share. Essent Group’s quarterly revenue was up 16.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Essent Group will post 6.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Essent Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 10th. Investors of record on Friday, May 31st were issued a $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.95%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 31st. Essent Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 16.94%.

Insider Activity at Essent Group

In other Essent Group news, Director Douglas J. Pauls sold 2,500 shares of Essent Group stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.12, for a total transaction of $140,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 27,112 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,521,525.44. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Essent Group

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Fairman Group LLC acquired a new stake in Essent Group during the 4th quarter worth $6,195,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Essent Group by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 11,477,434 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $605,320,000 after acquiring an additional 75,825 shares during the period. NFC Investments LLC acquired a new stake in Essent Group during the 4th quarter worth $2,976,000. True Wealth Design LLC acquired a new stake in Essent Group during the 4th quarter worth $837,000. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Essent Group during the fourth quarter worth $60,678,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.00% of the company’s stock.

About Essent Group

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.