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

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

Several other research firms have also recently commented on ESNT. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price on Essent Group from $64.00 to $61.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a research note on Monday, May 6th. UBS Group increased their target price on Essent Group from $57.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 22nd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on Essent Group from $62.00 to $64.00 and gave the company a market perform rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $59.88.

Essent Group Stock Up 3.1 %

Shares of NYSE:ESNT opened at $57.57 on Monday. Essent Group has a 52-week low of $45.63 and a 52-week high of $59.90. The company has a 50 day moving average of $56.16 and a two-hundred day moving average of $54.98. The company has a market capitalization of $6.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.11.

Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, May 3rd. The financial services provider reported $1.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.56 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $298.40 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $298.69 million. Essent Group had a net margin of 61.40% and a return on equity of 14.24%. Essent Group’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.59 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Essent Group will post 6.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Essent Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 10th. Investors of record on Friday, May 31st were paid a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.95%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 31st. Essent Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.94%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Douglas J. Pauls sold 2,500 shares of the business’s 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 transaction, the director now owns 27,112 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,521,525.44. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Essent Group

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ESNT. Norges Bank bought a new position in Essent Group during the 4th quarter valued at $60,678,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Essent Group by 3.8% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 11,917,819 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $709,229,000 after purchasing an additional 440,385 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC bought a new position in Essent Group during the 4th quarter valued at $20,097,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in Essent Group by 6.9% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,025,836 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $212,326,000 after purchasing an additional 258,246 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP boosted its stake in Essent Group by 31.2% during the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 650,270 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $34,295,000 after purchasing an additional 154,591 shares in the last quarter. 93.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.