Essent Group price target raised to $68 from $63 at JPMorgan

JPMorgan raised the firm’s price target on Essent Group to $68 from $63 and keeps a Neutral rating on the shares as part of a Q3 earnings preview for the consumer finance group. Consumer finance stocks have outperformed expectations, delivering an average total return of 18% year-to-date, the analyst tells investors in a research note. The firm says this primarily has been driven by multiple expansion rather than positive revisions to earnings. Given that backdrop, it believes investors “should opportunistically be taking profits.” While the outlook appears uncertain but balanced, markets are putting too high a probability on “Base” and “Bull” case scenarios and too low a probability on “Bear” case / tail-risk scenarios, contends JPMorgan.