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

Palomar Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLMR) has been given a consensus rating of “Buy” by the six research firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $161.75.

Several research analysts recently issued reports on PLMR shares. Wall Street Zen lowered Palomar from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, March 1st. Weiss Ratings raised Palomar from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Zacks Research raised Palomar from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Palomar from $155.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on Palomar from $183.00 to $186.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 7th.

Palomar Stock Performance

PLMR opened at $120.97 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $3.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.85 and a beta of 0.49. Palomar has a 12 month low of $107.75 and a 12 month high of $175.85. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $123.79 and a 200-day moving average price of $124.74.

Palomar (NASDAQ:PLMR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The company reported $2.24 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.06 by $0.18. Palomar had a return on equity of 22.77% and a net margin of 22.50%.The firm had revenue of $253.36 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $204.58 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.52 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 62.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Palomar will post 8.97 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Mac Armstrong sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $122.60, for a total transaction of $613,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 343,388 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $42,099,368.80. This represents a 1.44% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO T Christopher Uchida sold 783 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $128.04, for a total value of $100,255.32. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 14,752 shares in the company, valued at $1,888,846.08. This represents a 5.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 21,720 shares of company stock valued at $2,733,817. 3.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Salomon & Ludwin LLC acquired a new position in shares of Palomar in the third quarter valued at about $25,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Palomar by 210.0% in the third quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 217 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 147 shares during the period. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Palomar in the fourth quarter valued at about $32,000. Kestra Advisory Services LLC acquired a new position in shares of Palomar in the fourth quarter valued at about $33,000. Finally, Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. increased its holdings in shares of Palomar by 81.5% in the fourth quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 294 shares of the company’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 132 shares during the period. 90.25% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.