Royal Bank of Canada Cuts Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT) Price Target to $67.00

Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT) had its price target trimmed by Royal Bank of Canada from $73.00 to $67.00 in a research report report published on Monday morning, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an outperform rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

Other research analysts have also issued research reports about the company. BTIG Research increased their price objective on Essent Group from $61.00 to $64.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Essent Group from $68.00 to $67.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised Essent Group from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $65.00 to $70.00 in a report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Barclays lowered their price objective on Essent Group from $72.00 to $69.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Essent Group has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $65.00.

Essent Group Price Performance

Shares of ESNT stock opened at $56.43 on Monday. Essent Group has a fifty-two week low of $47.56 and a fifty-two week high of $65.33. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $62.43 and its two-hundred day moving average is $59.34. The firm has a market cap of $6.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.18, a PEG ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.12.

Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT) last issued its earnings results on Friday, November 1st. The financial services provider reported $1.65 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.73 by ($0.08). Essent Group had a return on equity of 13.81% and a net margin of 60.15%. The firm had revenue of $3.17 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $316.80 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.66 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 969.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Essent Group will post 7.02 EPS for the current year.

Essent Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 11th. Investors of record on Monday, December 2nd will be paid a dividend of $0.28 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.98%. Essent Group’s payout ratio is 16.23%.

Insider Activity at Essent Group

In other Essent Group news, CFO David B. Weinstock sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.59, for a total value of $127,180.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 25,416 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,616,203.44. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 3.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Essent Group

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Essent Group by 3.8% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 11,917,819 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $709,229,000 after acquiring an additional 440,385 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Essent Group by 10.5% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,680,074 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $262,973,000 after acquiring an additional 445,853 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its position in shares of Essent Group by 94.1% during the 1st quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 739,688 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $44,019,000 after buying an additional 358,621 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Essent Group by 68.8% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 436,009 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $24,499,000 after buying an additional 177,700 shares during the period. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers lifted its position in shares of Essent Group by 1.0% during the 2nd quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 361,028 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $20,286,000 after buying an additional 3,507 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 93.00% of the company’s stock.

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.