Citizens Jmp Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Slide Insurance (NASDAQ:SLDE) Stock

Slide Insurance (NASDAQ:SLDE) had its price objective raised by Citizens Jmp from $25.00 to $27.00 in a research report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “market outperform” rating on the stock. Citizens Jmp’s price objective indicates a potential upside of 30.54% from the company’s current price.

A number of other brokerages have also recently issued reports on SLDE. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Slide Insurance from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on Slide Insurance from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Slide Insurance in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “equal weight” rating and set a $20.00 price objective (down from $23.00) on shares of Slide Insurance in a report on Monday, July 6th. Finally, Citigroup reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Slide Insurance in a research report on Thursday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $24.60.

Slide Insurance Stock Performance

NASDAQ:SLDE traded down $1.46 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $20.68. The stock had a trading volume of 203,635 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,522,058. Slide Insurance has a twelve month low of $12.53 and a twelve month high of $23.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.33 and a current ratio of 1.33. The stock has a market cap of $2.37 billion and a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.06. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $18.92 and its 200 day simple moving average is $18.19.

Slide Insurance (NASDAQ:SLDE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 28th. The company reported $1.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.88 by $0.18. Slide Insurance had a return on equity of 52.25% and a net margin of 40.02%.The firm had revenue of $386.82 million for the quarter. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Slide Insurance will post 3.59 earnings per share for the current year.

Slide Insurance announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase program on Tuesday, April 28th that authorizes the company to repurchase $100.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to reacquire up to 4.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Robert Gries, Jr. sold 84,636 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.34, for a total value of $1,721,496.24. Following the transaction, the director owned 1,777,357 shares in the company, valued at approximately $36,151,441.38. This represents a 4.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Bruce Lucas sold 455,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.06, for a total value of $8,672,300.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 35,429,165 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $675,279,884.90. This trade represents a 1.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 2,628,743 shares of company stock valued at $49,342,172 over the last three months. Insiders own 50.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Comerica Bank increased its holdings in Slide Insurance by 3,462.2% in the 4th quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 1,318 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 1,281 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC purchased a new stake in Slide Insurance during the fourth quarter valued at about $35,000. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. bought a new position in Slide Insurance during the third quarter worth about $35,000. State of Wyoming bought a new position in Slide Insurance during the first quarter worth about $42,000. Finally, Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Slide Insurance in the fourth quarter worth about $47,000.

Slide Insurance Company Profile

Launched in 2021, we are a technology enabled, fast-growing, coastal specialty insurer. We focus on profitable underwriting of single family and condominium policies in the property and casualty (“P&C”) industry in coastal states along the Atlantic seaboard through our insurance subsidiary, Slide Insurance Company (“SIC”). We utilize our differentiated technology and data-driven approach to focus on market opportunities that are underserved by other insurance companies. We acquire policies both from inorganic block acquisitions and subsequent renewals, as well as new business sales through a combination of independent agents and our direct-to-consumer(“DTC”) channel, through which we sell our insurance products directly to end consumers, without the use of retailers, brokers, agents or other intermediaries.