Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. Sells 68,830 Shares of Palomar Holdings, Inc. $PLMR

Key Points

• Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. reduced its Palomar Holdings stake by 8.8% in the first quarter, selling 68,830 shares and leaving it with 716,335 shares worth about $85.6 million.
• Palomar continues to attract heavy institutional ownership, with 90.25% of shares held by institutions and hedge funds; several other funds increased or started positions during the quarter.
• Analysts remain generally positive but have trimmed price targets, with Palomar holding a Moderate Buy consensus and an average target price of $150.00. Recent insider sales by the president and another executive also drew attention.

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. trimmed its position in Palomar Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLMR - Free Report) by 8.8% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 716,335 shares of the company's stock after selling 68,830 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. owned 2.70% of Palomar worth $85,602,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in PLMR. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Palomar by 3.0% during the 1st quarter. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC now owns 714,914 shares of the company's stock worth $85,432,000 after buying an additional 20,597 shares during the last quarter. Hunter Associates Investment Management LLC grew its position in Palomar by 6.4% in the first quarter. Hunter Associates Investment Management LLC now owns 21,567 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,585,000 after acquiring an additional 1,300 shares during the last quarter. Strs Ohio grew its position in Palomar by 2.3% in the first quarter. Strs Ohio now owns 8,900 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,064,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC acquired a new position in Palomar during the first quarter worth about $217,000. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott LLC acquired a new position in Palomar during the first quarter worth about $359,000. 90.25% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PLMR has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Piper Sandler reduced their price target on shares of Palomar from $151.00 to $132.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Palomar from a "hold (c)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Palomar from $160.00 to $150.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. Evercore set a $152.00 target price on shares of Palomar in a research note on Friday. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of Palomar from $162.00 to $166.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Palomar currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $150.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Timothy Carter sold 480 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Sunday, June 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $124.29, for a total transaction of $59,659.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 1,670 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $207,564.30. This trade represents a 22.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, President Jon Christianson sold 6,863 shares of Palomar stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $139.50, for a total transaction of $957,388.50. Following the transaction, the president owned 66,478 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,273,681. This trade represents a 9.36% 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. Insiders have sold 22,977 shares of company stock valued at $2,933,488 in the last ninety days. 3.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Palomar Trading Down 2.2%

Shares of PLMR stock traded down $3.11 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $136.07. 338,476 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 306,925. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $117.14 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $123.25. Palomar Holdings, Inc. has a 1-year low of $100.81 and a 1-year high of $147.62. The company has a market cap of $3.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.95 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a quick ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 0.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31.

Palomar (NASDAQ:PLMR - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 6th. The company reported $2.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.17 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $278.94 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $557.79 million. Palomar had a return on equity of 22.62% and a net margin of 20.11%.The firm's revenue was up 59.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.87 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Palomar Holdings, Inc. will post 8.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Palomar Company Profile

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.