Slide Insurance (NASDAQ:SLDE) Upgraded by Zacks Research to Strong-Buy Rating

Zacks Research upgraded shares of Slide Insurance (NASDAQ:SLDE) from a hold rating to a strong-buy rating in a report published on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

Other equities research analysts have also issued reports about the company. Citigroup reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Slide Insurance in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Slide Insurance in a research note on Monday. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Slide Insurance from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Slide Insurance from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 9th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on shares of Slide Insurance from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $25.40.

Slide Insurance Price Performance

Shares of SLDE stock opened at $20.65 on Monday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $19.06 and a 200 day simple moving average of $18.27. The company has a market cap of $2.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.04 and a beta of -0.04. The company has a quick ratio of 1.33, a current ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02. Slide Insurance has a twelve month low of $12.53 and a twelve month high of $23.00.

Slide Insurance (NASDAQ:SLDE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 28th. The company reported $1.06 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.88 by $0.18. Slide Insurance had a net margin of 40.02% and a return on equity of 50.69%. The business had revenue of $386.82 million for the quarter. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Slide Insurance will post 3.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Slide Insurance Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 28th. Investors of record on Friday, August 14th will be given a dividend of $0.07 per share. This represents a $0.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.4%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 14th.

Slide Insurance declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase program on Tuesday, April 28th that allows the company to repurchase $100.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to purchase up to 4.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Slide Insurance

In related news, Director Andrew Pardo Wright sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.51, for a total value of $292,650.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 18,998 shares in the company, valued at approximately $370,650.98. This represents a 44.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, COO Shannon Lucas sold 4,659 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.12, for a total transaction of $79,762.08. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 1,118,756 shares in the company, valued at $19,153,102.72. This represents a 0.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 2,413,793 shares of company stock worth $45,314,074. 50.80% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Slide Insurance

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Comerica Bank lifted its holdings in shares of Slide Insurance by 3,462.2% during the 4th quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 1,318 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 1,281 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC bought a new position in Slide Insurance in the fourth quarter valued at $35,000. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. bought a new position in Slide Insurance in the third quarter valued at $35,000. State of Wyoming purchased a new stake in Slide Insurance during the first quarter valued at about $42,000. Finally, Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd purchased a new stake in Slide Insurance during the fourth quarter valued at about $47,000.

Slide Insurance Company Profile

Launched in 2021, we are a technology enabled, fast-growing, coastal specialty insurer. We focus on profitable underwriting of single family and condominium policies in the property and casualty (“P&C”) industry in coastal states along the Atlantic seaboard through our insurance subsidiary, Slide Insurance Company (“SIC”). We utilize our differentiated technology and data-driven approach to focus on market opportunities that are underserved by other insurance companies. We acquire policies both from inorganic block acquisitions and subsequent renewals, as well as new business sales through a combination of independent agents and our direct-to-consumer(“DTC”) channel, through which we sell our insurance products directly to end consumers, without the use of retailers, brokers, agents or other intermediaries.