Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT) Increases Dividend to $0.31 Per Share

Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT) announced a quarterly dividend on Friday, February 14th, NASDAQ Dividends reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of 0.31 per share by the financial services provider on Monday, March 24th. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.27%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This is a 10.7% increase from Essent Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28.

Essent Group has a dividend payout ratio of 17.3% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Essent Group to earn $7.20 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.24 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 17.2%.

Essent Group Stock Performance

Shares of ESNT stock opened at $54.62 on Wednesday. Essent Group has a fifty-two week low of $52.22 and a fifty-two week high of $65.34. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $56.81 and its 200-day simple moving average is $58.58. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.67 billion, a PE ratio of 7.99, a P/E/G ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 1.09.

Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 14th. The financial services provider reported $1.58 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.67 by ($0.09). The firm had revenue of $315.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $313.88 million. Essent Group had a net margin of 58.69% and a return on equity of 13.35%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.64 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Essent Group will post 6.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have commented on ESNT. Barclays downgraded shares of Essent Group from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $69.00 to $58.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $67.00 target price on shares of Essent Group in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective on shares of Essent Group from $72.00 to $71.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Essent Group from $67.00 to $60.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Essent Group currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $62.57.

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.