Zacks Investment Research
21 Sept 2026, 16:45 UTC · 2h ago
Verdict
Headline takes no side. We score ESNT +0.60 across three claims — strongly bullish.
+0.60strongly bullish
More positive than 70% of ticker scores this week
What the story claims
3 claims · scored −1 bearish … +1 bullish · 0 new · 3 priced in
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Essent Group's 2026 earnings is $7.60 per share, indicating 10.14% year-over-year growth.
Priced inanalysis of consensus estimates
So whatAt the current 20% payout ratio, EPS growth to $7.60 allows the dividend to grow while keeping the payout under 25% for FY2026.
More positive than 76% of claims this week
Essent Group currently pays an annualized dividend of $1.40 per share, representing a 12.9% increase from last year.
Continue reading
5 related stories
Scored by the NIS engine · methodology.
Top 2 movers · tap to explore
Priced inanalysis of historical dividend data
So whatThe 5-year average increase of 16.21% suggests the recent 12.9% hike is actually a slight deceleration in growth pace.
More positive than 49% of claims this week
The company's current dividend yield is 2.08%, which exceeds the S&P 500 average of 1.44%.
Priced inanalysis of current yield
So whatA yield 64bps above the S&P 500 average makes the stock more sensitive to interest rate fluctuations in the Finance sector.
More positive than 40% of claims this week
Which stocks this story touches
More positive than 70% of ticker scores this week
The company shows strong dividend growth, a low payout ratio, and expected solid earnings growth for 2026.
Free · No account
Get a free daily PDF briefing — the last 24 hours of news, with summaries and the market-impact score for each story, delivered an hour before the open.
We’ll watch
Pre-filled from this story — remove any you don’t want. Add more tickers & tags or fine-tune your watchlist anytime — every email has an edit link, no account needed.
Free forever · one email a day, max · unsubscribe in one click.How it works
−0.1%
Price flat so far
$67.10 vs $67.19 close before publication (Sep 18) · not market-adjusted
ESNT chart →