Palomar Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLMR) Given Consensus Rating of "Moderate Buy" by Analysts

Key Points

• Analysts remain moderately bullish: Four of six analysts rate Palomar Holdings a “buy,” while two recommend holding the stock. The average 12-month price target is $162.75, above the reported share price of $132.57.
• Palomar reported quarterly earnings of $2.36 per share, beating consensus estimates of $2.19 and improving from $1.76 in the year-ago quarter. Analysts expect full-year earnings of approximately $9.21 per share.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.45 per share, representing a $1.80 annualized payout and a 1.4% yield. Institutional investors own 90.25% of the stock, while insiders have sold shares worth about $3.14 million over the past three months.

Palomar Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLMR - Get Free Report) has been assigned an average rating of "Moderate Buy" from the six ratings firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $162.75.

Several research firms have recently commented on PLMR. Evercore set a $152.00 price target on Palomar in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on Palomar from $132.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. Zacks Research lowered Palomar from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, May 15th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Palomar from a "hold (c)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a report on Thursday, June 18th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Palomar from $150.00 to $167.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, July 20th.

Palomar Stock Performance

Shares of PLMR stock opened at $132.57 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $3.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.82 and a beta of 0.40. The company's 50 day moving average is $133.03 and its 200 day moving average is $124.15. The company has a quick ratio of 0.50, a current 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 - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results 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 company had revenue of $314.42 million during 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 business earned $1.76 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Palomar will post 9.21 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Palomar Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 19th will be paid a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.4%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 19th. Palomar's payout ratio is 24.19%.

Insider Activity at Palomar

In other Palomar news, CEO Mac Armstrong sold 3,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $130.60, for a total value of $457,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 322,388 shares in the company, valued at $42,103,872.80. This trade represents a 1.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, COO Rodolphe Herve sold 1,207 shares of Palomar stock in a transaction on Friday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $135.35, for a total transaction of $163,367.45. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 3,548 shares in the company, valued at $480,221.80. This represents a 25.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders have sold a total of 23,665 shares of company stock valued at $3,138,093 over the last three months. Company insiders own 3.70% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PLMR. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in Palomar in the second quarter valued at about $556,348,000. California State Teachers Retirement System grew its stake in shares of Palomar by 12,971.0% during the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 3,957,903 shares of the company's stock worth $500,239,000 after acquiring an additional 3,927,623 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Palomar by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,698,278 shares of the company's stock valued at $363,620,000 after acquiring an additional 67,038 shares in the last quarter. Jupiter Topco LLC acquired a new position in shares of Palomar during the second quarter valued at about $132,166,000. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its position in shares of Palomar by 17.4% in the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 933,993 shares of the company's stock valued at $111,664,000 after purchasing an additional 138,368 shares during the last quarter. 90.25% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Palomar

Palomar Holdings, Inc NASDAQ: PLMR is a specialty insurance holding company focused on providing medical stop-loss coverage and related administrative services to self-funded employer health plans in the United States. The firm operates through two primary business segments—Medical Stop-Loss and Specialty Program Management—to deliver tailored risk protection and comprehensive program administration.

In its Medical Stop-Loss segment, Palomar underwrites excess and aggregate stop-loss policies designed to shield self-insured employers from catastrophic medical claims that exceed pre-determined retention levels.

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