Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT – Get Free Report) saw a large growth in short interest during the month of May. As of May 15th, there was short interest totalling 719,100 shares, a growth of 15.6% from the April 30th total of 621,900 shares. Approximately 0.7% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 508,300 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.4 days.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on ESNT shares. UBS Group increased their price objective on Essent Group from $57.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered shares of Essent Group from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $58.00 to $61.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on shares of Essent Group from $64.00 to $61.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, May 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of Essent Group from $62.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Essent Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 4th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $59.25.
Essent Group Price Performance
Shares of ESNT stock traded up $0.61 on Friday, hitting $56.70. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 640,983 shares, compared to its average volume of 443,386. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.58, a P/E/G ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.05. Essent Group has a fifty-two week low of $43.87 and a fifty-two week high of $59.90. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $55.69 and its 200-day moving average price is $53.68.
Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT – Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 3rd. The financial services provider reported $1.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.56 by $0.14. Essent Group had a return on equity of 14.24% and a net margin of 61.40%. The company had revenue of $298.40 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $298.69 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.59 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 16.4% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Essent Group will post 6.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Essent Group Announces Dividend
The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 31st will be given a $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.98%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 31st. Essent Group’s dividend payout ratio is 16.94%.
Insider Activity
In other news, Director Douglas J. Pauls sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 9th. The stock was 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 directly owns 27,112 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,521,525.44. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 2.90% of the company’s stock.
Institutional Trading of Essent Group
A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of ESNT. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position 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 worth $709,229,000 after acquiring an additional 440,385 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in Essent Group by 6.9% in 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 buying an additional 258,246 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Essent Group by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,496,741 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $78,938,000 after buying an additional 25,483 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its position in Essent Group by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,453,168 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $68,720,000 after buying an additional 14,145 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Essent Group by 10.7% during the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,247,184 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $74,220,000 after buying an additional 120,881 shares during the last quarter. 93.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
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.