UPDATE: Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Upgrades Essent Group Ltd. On Valuation

In a report published Monday, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods analyst Bose George upgraded the rating on Essent Group Ltd. ESNT from Market Perform to Outperform, but lowered the price target from $26.00 to $25.00. In the report, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods noted, “ESNT reported GAAP EPS of $0.18 and operating EPS of $0.17. The slight miss to us reflected a modestly lower premium margin than we were forecasting. Pre-tax earnings of $23.5 million came in slightly below our $24.1 million estimate. Quarter-end adjusted book value was $8.51, up from $8.32. We upgrade the shares to Outperform on valuation, while we leave our forward 2014 and 2015 EPS estimates unchanged. We trim our price target to $25 from $26.” Essent Group Ltd. closed on Friday at $20.00.