Skyward Specialty Insurance Group (NASDAQ:SKWD) Lowered to "Hold" Rating by Wall Street Zen

Key Points

• Skyward Specialty Insurance Group has been downgraded from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating by Wall Street Zen, impacting general investor sentiment.
• Several analysts have increased their target prices for the company, with Barclays setting it at $64.00 and Keefe, Bruyette & Woods at $72.00, indicating a varied outlook among analysts.
• Skyward Specialty Insurance reported earnings of $0.89 EPS for the last quarter, beating estimates, but its revenue fell slightly short of expectations at $319.90 million.

Wall Street Zen cut shares of Skyward Specialty Insurance Group (NASDAQ:SKWD - Free Report) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report sent to investors on Saturday.

Several other equities analysts have also commented on SKWD. Piper Sandler dropped their price target on shares of Skyward Specialty Insurance Group from $69.00 to $59.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of Skyward Specialty Insurance Group from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $62.00 to $59.00 in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of Skyward Specialty Insurance Group from $67.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 29th. Truist Financial upped their target price on shares of Skyward Specialty Insurance Group from $61.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, May 5th. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on shares of Skyward Specialty Insurance Group from $63.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $60.88.

Skyward Specialty Insurance Group Stock Down 3.5%

Shares of NASDAQ:SKWD traded down $1.73 during trading on Friday, reaching $47.85. The stock had a trading volume of 260,429 shares, compared to its average volume of 422,178. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $56.48 and a 200-day moving average price of $53.60. The stock has a market cap of $1.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.08 and a beta of 0.62. Skyward Specialty Insurance Group has a fifty-two week low of $34.10 and a fifty-two week high of $65.05.

Skyward Specialty Insurance Group (NASDAQ:SKWD - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported $0.89 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.86 by $0.03. Skyward Specialty Insurance Group had a net margin of 10.53% and a return on equity of 16.84%. The business had revenue of $319.90 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $324.64 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.80 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Skyward Specialty Insurance Group will post 3.05 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Skyward Specialty Insurance Group

In related news, Chairman Kirby Hill sold 8,249 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.87, for a total value of $502,116.63. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman directly owned 8,249 shares in the company, valued at approximately $502,116.63. The trade was a 50.00% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Mark W. Haushill sold 52,748 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.76, for a total value of $3,099,472.48. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 133,629 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $7,852,040.04. The trade was a 28.30% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 8.01% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Skyward Specialty Insurance Group by 10.0% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,503,156 shares of the company's stock valued at $132,467,000 after buying an additional 227,921 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in Skyward Specialty Insurance Group by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,223,229 shares of the company's stock valued at $64,733,000 after buying an additional 5,900 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in Skyward Specialty Insurance Group by 4.3% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 1,094,018 shares of the company's stock valued at $57,896,000 after buying an additional 45,464 shares in the last quarter. Reinhart Partners LLC. grew its holdings in Skyward Specialty Insurance Group by 1.5% in the 2nd quarter. Reinhart Partners LLC. now owns 959,036 shares of the company's stock valued at $55,423,000 after buying an additional 14,605 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital World Investors acquired a new position in Skyward Specialty Insurance Group in the 4th quarter valued at $41,182,000. 94.83% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Skyward Specialty Insurance Group

Skyward Specialty Insurance Group, Inc, an insurance holding company, underwrites commercial property and casualty insurance products in the United States. It offers general liability, excess liability, professional liability, commercial auto, group accident and health, property, surety, and workers' compensation insurance products.