Palomar Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLMR) Receives Average Rating of "Moderate Buy" from Analysts

Key Points

• Palomar Holdings has a consensus analyst rating of “Moderate Buy” from six covering firms, with four buy ratings and two hold ratings. The average 12-month price target is $147.75.
• Several analysts lowered price targets recently, including Piper Sandler, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, and JPMorgan, while Zacks Research downgraded the stock from strong buy to hold. This suggests some near-term caution despite the overall bullish rating.
• Palomar reported Q1 earnings of $2.31 per share, topping expectations, and revenue rose 59.7% year over year. The stock was trading around $114.42, below its 52-week high of $162.65.

Palomar Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLMR - Get Free Report) has been given a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" by the six ratings firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and four have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $147.75.

Several analysts have issued reports on PLMR shares. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on Palomar from $151.00 to $132.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, May 11th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their target price on Palomar from $186.00 to $159.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 13th. Zacks Research cut Palomar from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, May 15th. Weiss Ratings cut Palomar from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "hold (c)" rating in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on Palomar from $160.00 to $150.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, May 26th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palomar

In other news, President Jon Christianson sold 1,937 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $128.62, for a total value of $249,136.94. Following the transaction, the president owned 65,919 shares of the company's stock, valued at $8,478,501.78. This represents a 2.85% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Mac Armstrong sold 3,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $114.39, for a total value of $400,365.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 332,888 shares in the company, valued at approximately $38,079,058.32. This trade represents a 1.04% 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. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 18,634 shares of company stock valued at $2,318,111. 3.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Palomar

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of PLMR. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its stake in shares of Palomar by 250.1% in the 4th quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 795,625 shares of the company's stock valued at $107,237,000 after purchasing an additional 568,360 shares during the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted its stake in shares of Palomar by 290.2% in the 2nd quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 497,080 shares of the company's stock valued at $76,675,000 after purchasing an additional 369,697 shares during the last quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP lifted its stake in shares of Palomar by 81.0% in the 3rd quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 738,528 shares of the company's stock valued at $86,223,000 after purchasing an additional 330,592 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Palomar by 72.1% in the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 785,165 shares of the company's stock valued at $105,809,000 after purchasing an additional 328,993 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Balyasny Asset Management L.P. lifted its stake in shares of Palomar by 290.5% in the 4th quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 308,734 shares of the company's stock valued at $41,605,000 after purchasing an additional 229,681 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.25% of the company's stock.

Palomar Stock Up 0.3%

Shares of PLMR opened at $114.42 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.49 and a current ratio of 0.49. Palomar has a one year low of $100.81 and a one year high of $162.65. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.94 and a beta of 0.44. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $117.26 and a 200 day moving average price of $122.62.

Palomar (NASDAQ:PLMR - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results 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 analysts' expectations of $557.79 million. Palomar had a return on equity of 22.62% and a net margin of 20.11%.The firm's quarterly revenue was up 59.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.87 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Palomar will post 8.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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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