Brokerages Set Palomar Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLMR) Target Price at $162.75

Palomar Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLMR) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the six brokerages that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $162.75.

PLMR has been the topic of several analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Palomar from $150.00 to $167.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, July 20th. Evercore set a $152.00 price target on Palomar in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on Palomar from $166.00 to $167.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, August 10th. Zacks Research cut Palomar from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, May 15th. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on Palomar from $132.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Palomar news, President Jon Christianson sold 528 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $127.75, for a total transaction of $67,452.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the president owned 66,970 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,555,417.50. This represents a 0.78% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, CEO Mac Armstrong sold 3,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $130.60, for a total value of $457,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 322,388 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $42,103,872.80. This trade represents a 1.07% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 23,665 shares of company stock worth $3,138,093. 3.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Palomar

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Kestra Advisory Services LLC purchased a new position in Palomar during the 4th quarter valued at $33,000. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. raised its holdings in Palomar by 81.5% in the 4th quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 294 shares of the company’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 132 shares in the last quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP purchased a new stake in shares of Palomar in the 2nd quarter worth about $43,000. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Palomar in the 4th quarter worth about $54,000. Finally, Parallel Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Palomar by 638.3% during the 1st quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 443 shares of the company’s stock valued at $53,000 after purchasing an additional 383 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.25% of the company’s stock.

Palomar Stock Up 3.0%

Shares of NASDAQ PLMR opened at $136.12 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.30 and a beta of 0.39. Palomar has a one year low of $100.81 and a one year high of $147.62. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $133.98 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $124.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.50 and a quick ratio of 0.50.

Palomar (NASDAQ:PLMR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 4th. The company reported $2.36 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.19 by $0.17. The firm had revenue of $314.42 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $621.52 million. Palomar had a net margin of 18.61% and a return on equity of 23.28%. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.76 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Palomar will post 9.21 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Palomar Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 19th were given a dividend of $0.45 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 19th. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.3%. Palomar’s dividend payout ratio is presently 24.19%.

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.