Palomar Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLMR) Stock Rated “Buy” by Sell-Side Brokerages

Shares of Palomar Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLMR) have earned an average rating of “Buy” from the six research firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $160.00.

Several brokerages recently weighed in on PLMR. Evercore set a $152.00 target price on Palomar in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of Palomar from $132.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Palomar from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a research report on Friday, October 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on Palomar from $166.00 to $167.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, August 10th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Palomar from $167.00 to $156.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 9th.

Palomar Price Performance

NASDAQ PLMR opened at $141.78 on Wednesday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $132.40 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $127.04. The stock has a market cap of $3.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.06 and a beta of 0.35. The company has a current ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. Palomar has a 52 week low of $100.81 and a 52 week high of $147.62.

Palomar (NASDAQ:PLMR) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The company reported $2.36 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.19 by $0.17. Palomar had a return on equity of 23.28% and a net margin of 18.61%. The firm had revenue of $314.42 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $621.52 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.76 EPS. Analysts forecast that Palomar will post 9.27 EPS for the current year.

Palomar Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 19th were given a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 19th. Palomar’s payout ratio is presently 24.19%.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Rodolphe Herve sold 1,207 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $135.35, for a total value of $163,367.45. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 3,548 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $480,221.80. This represents a 25.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, CEO Mac Armstrong sold 3,500 shares of Palomar stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $138.31, for a total value of $484,085.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 315,388 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $43,621,314.28. The trade was a 1.10% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last three months, insiders sold 13,322 shares of company stock worth $1,783,291. Corporate insiders own 3.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in Palomar in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $556,348,000. Jupiter Topco LLC bought a new position in Palomar in the 2nd quarter worth $132,166,000. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its position in Palomar by 17.4% during the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 933,993 shares of the company’s stock worth $111,664,000 after acquiring an additional 138,368 shares during the last quarter. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC boosted its stake in Palomar by 3.0% during the 1st quarter. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC now owns 714,914 shares of the company’s stock valued at $85,432,000 after purchasing an additional 20,597 shares during the period. Finally, Freestone Grove Partners LP bought a new stake in Palomar during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $78,657,000. Institutional investors own 90.25% of the company’s stock.

About Palomar

Palomar Holdings, Inc is a specialty insurance company that provides property and casualty insurance products in markets that may be underserved by traditional insurers. The company focuses on risks that are complex, difficult to place or exposed to natural catastrophes, using specialized underwriting and risk-management capabilities.

Its offerings include residential and commercial earthquake insurance, inland marine coverage, specialty property insurance, casualty products, workers’ compensation and other tailored insurance solutions.