Essent Group Ltd. (ESNT) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.31 on March 24th

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

Essent Group has a 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

NYSE ESNT opened at $54.62 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $5.67 billion, a PE ratio of 7.99, a PEG ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 1.09. Essent Group has a fifty-two week low of $52.22 and a fifty-two week high of $65.34. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $56.81 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $58.58.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have issued reports on ESNT. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price on Essent Group from $72.00 to $71.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $67.00 target price on shares of Essent Group in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Barclays lowered Essent Group from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $69.00 to $58.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. 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 issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Essent Group has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $62.57.

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.