Palomar (NASDAQ:PLMR) Stock Moved Down to Hold by Zacks Research

Zacks Research cut shares of Palomar (NASDAQ:PLMR) from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a report issued on Thursday,Zacks reports.

A number of other brokerages have also recently issued reports on PLMR. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Palomar from $167.00 to $156.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on Palomar from $166.00 to $167.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, August 10th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Palomar from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a report on Friday, October 16th. Evercore set a $152.00 price target on Palomar in a report on Friday, July 10th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their price objective on Palomar from $132.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Palomar presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $160.00.

Palomar Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ PLMR opened at $140.32 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $133.26 and a 200 day moving average price of $126.41. Palomar has a 1-year low of $100.81 and a 1-year high of $147.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.50 and a quick ratio of 0.50. The company has a market cap of $3.69 billion, a PE ratio of 18.86 and a beta of 0.35.

Palomar (NASDAQ:PLMR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 4th. The company reported $2.36 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.19 by $0.17. The firm had revenue of $314.42 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $621.52 million. Palomar had a return on equity of 23.28% and a net margin of 18.61%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.76 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Palomar will post 9.27 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, President Jon Christianson sold 528 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $127.75, for a total value of $67,452.00. Following the sale, the president directly owned 66,970 shares in the company, valued at $8,555,417.50. This represents a 0.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, CFO T. Christopher Uchida sold 791 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $127.74, for a total value of $101,042.34. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 16,238 shares in the company, valued at $2,074,242.12. This represents a 4.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Over the last three months, insiders sold 12,115 shares of company stock worth $1,619,923. 3.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Palomar

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PLMR. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Palomar during the 2nd quarter worth about $556,348,000. Jupiter Topco LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Palomar in the second quarter worth approximately $132,166,000. Freestone Grove Partners LP acquired a new stake in shares of Palomar in the second quarter worth approximately $78,657,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new stake in Palomar in the second quarter valued at approximately $30,966,000. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC purchased a new stake in Palomar in the second quarter valued at approximately $24,691,000. Hedge funds and other 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.