Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT) Issues Earnings Results, Misses Estimates By $0.09 EPS

Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT) announced its earnings results on Friday. The financial services provider reported $1.58 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.67 by ($0.09), Zacks reports. The company had revenue of $315.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $313.88 million. Essent Group had a return on equity of 13.81% and a net margin of 60.15%. Essent Group’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.64 earnings per share.

Essent Group Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:ESNT opened at $56.43 on Friday. Essent Group has a 52-week low of $51.69 and a 52-week high of $65.33. The company has a market capitalization of $5.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $56.13 and a 200 day simple moving average of $59.08.

Essent Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.31 dividend. This is an increase from Essent Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.20%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Essent Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 16.23%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ESNT has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on shares of Essent Group from $68.00 to $60.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Barclays downgraded shares of Essent Group from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $69.00 to $58.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on shares of Essent Group from $75.00 to $72.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on shares of Essent Group from $73.00 to $67.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Essent Group from $67.00 to $60.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $62.71.

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.