Barclays Cuts Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT) Price Target to $69.00

Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT) had its target price cut by Barclays from $72.00 to $69.00 in a research note published on Monday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

Several other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on ESNT. BTIG Research boosted their price target on shares of Essent Group from $61.00 to $64.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Essent Group from $63.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on shares of Essent Group from $61.00 to $67.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of Essent Group from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $65.00 to $70.00 in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Essent Group presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $65.00.

Essent Group Trading Up 5.2 %

ESNT stock opened at $56.43 on Monday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $62.43 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $59.34. Essent Group has a 12-month low of $47.56 and a 12-month high of $65.33. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.18, a PEG ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.12.

Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 1st. The financial services provider reported $1.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.73 by ($0.08). Essent Group had a net margin of 60.15% and a return on equity of 13.81%. The firm had revenue of $3.17 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $316.80 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.66 EPS. Essent Group’s revenue was up 969.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Essent Group will post 7.02 EPS for the current year.

Essent Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 2nd will be issued a $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.98%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 2nd. Essent Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.23%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO David B. Weinstock sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.59, for a total value of $127,180.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 25,416 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,616,203.44. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Essent Group by 3.8% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 11,917,819 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $709,229,000 after buying an additional 440,385 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Essent Group by 10.5% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,680,074 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $262,973,000 after buying an additional 445,853 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its stake in shares of Essent Group by 94.1% in the first 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 in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Essent Group by 68.8% in the second 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers lifted its stake in shares of Essent Group by 1.0% in the second 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.