Skyward Specialty Insurance Group (NASDAQ:SKWD) Price Target Lowered to $59.00 at Piper Sandler

Key Points

• Piper Sandler has lowered its price target for Skyward Specialty Insurance Group (NASDAQ:SKWD) from $69.00 to $59.00, while maintaining an "overweight" rating, indicating a potential upside of 16.65% from current levels.
• Recent earnings exceeded expectations with a reported $0.89 EPS for the quarter, beating analyst estimates of $0.86, despite revenue falling short of forecasts.
• Insider selling has occurred recently, with significant transactions by both the chairman and CFO, leading to a notable decrease in their ownership stakes in the company.

Skyward Specialty Insurance Group (NASDAQ:SKWD - Get Free Report) had its price target lowered by stock analysts at Piper Sandler from $69.00 to $59.00 in a report released on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an "overweight" rating on the stock. Piper Sandler's target price suggests a potential upside of 16.65% from the stock's current price.

SKWD has been the topic of several other reports. Truist Financial upped their target price on Skyward Specialty Insurance Group from $61.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, May 5th. JMP Securities upped their target price on Skyward Specialty Insurance Group from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Barclays upped their target price on Skyward Specialty Insurance Group from $63.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Citigroup reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Skyward Specialty Insurance Group in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group downgraded Skyward Specialty Insurance Group from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $62.00 to $59.00 in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Skyward Specialty Insurance Group presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $60.88.

Skyward Specialty Insurance Group Trading Up 2.3%

SKWD opened at $50.58 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $56.94 and a 200-day moving average price of $53.42. Skyward Specialty Insurance Group has a 12 month low of $34.10 and a 12 month high of $65.05. The firm has a market cap of $2.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.91 and a beta of 0.65.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Skyward Specialty Insurance Group news, Chairman Kirby Hill sold 8,249 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.87, for a total transaction of $502,116.63. Following the transaction, the chairman owned 8,249 shares in the company, valued at approximately $502,116.63. This represents a 50.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, 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 stock was sold at an average price of $58.76, for a total value of $3,099,472.48. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 133,629 shares in the company, valued at $7,852,040.04. This represents a 28.30% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 8.01% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Skyward Specialty Insurance Group

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Skyward Specialty Insurance Group by 10.0% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,503,156 shares of the company's stock valued at $132,467,000 after acquiring an additional 227,921 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Skyward Specialty Insurance Group by 0.5% in the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,223,229 shares of the company's stock valued at $64,733,000 after acquiring an additional 5,900 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in shares of Skyward Specialty Insurance Group by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,164,620 shares of the company's stock valued at $58,860,000 after acquiring an additional 47,363 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in shares of Skyward Specialty Insurance Group by 4.3% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 1,094,018 shares of the company's stock valued at $57,896,000 after acquiring an additional 45,464 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Reinhart Partners LLC. lifted its position in shares of Skyward Specialty Insurance Group by 1.5% in the second quarter. Reinhart Partners LLC. now owns 959,036 shares of the company's stock valued at $55,423,000 after acquiring an additional 14,605 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.83% of the company's stock.

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.

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