BofA Raised Target Price on Essent Group (ESNT) to $68

Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT) is one of the 13 Deep Value Stocks to Buy Right Now.

Bank of America, on February 17, slightly increased its target price on Essent Group by 3.0% to $68 (from $66) and reiterated its Buy recommendation on the stock. The target price update comes after the firm adjusted its FY26 and FY27 earnings per share forecasts, following the release of Essent’s Q4 results, which fell slightly below the firm’s own forecasts. The firm, however, emphasized that it did not view the miss as “thesis changing.”

Essent released its Q4 2025 earnings on February 13, which showed the company posting $1.60 in diluted earnings per share and $312.40 million in net revenue, both figures slightly missing BofA and street consensus estimates.

Despite this miss, the company’s overall strategy (which it calls the “Buy, Manage, & Distribute Operating Model”) looks to be intact. The company’s total insurance in force grew YoY. The gross premium rate it earns on insurance was stable. Essent was also able to manage its risk by transferring some of its credit risk to high-quality reinsurers (albeit at a slightly higher cost vs. last year).

The company, in Q4 2025, wrote $11.8 billion in new insurance policies at an average base premium earned of 41 basis points ($4.1 in annual premium for every $1,000 insured). Most importantly, operating cash flows remained healthy, allowing Essent to increase its quarterly dividend rate to $0.35 per common share.

Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT) is a holding company that offers private mortgage insurance, reinsurance, and title insurance and settlement services through its subsidiaries: Essent Guaranty, Inc., Essent Reinsurance Ltd., and Essent Title Insurance, Inc. The company is based in Hamilton, Bermuda, and was founded in July 2008 by Mark Casale.

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