Slide Insurance (NASDAQ:SLDE) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Slide Insurance (NASDAQ:SLDE) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note published on Saturday.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently commented on SLDE. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on Slide Insurance from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, March 9th. Texas Capital upgraded Slide Insurance to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 18th. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on Slide Insurance from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Barclays lifted their target price on Slide Insurance from $29.00 to $31.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Slide Insurance in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Slide Insurance currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $24.80.

Slide Insurance Stock Performance

NASDAQ SLDE opened at $18.56 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $18.25 and its two-hundred day moving average is $17.55. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.13 billion and a P/E ratio of 5.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.33 and a current ratio of 1.33. Slide Insurance has a fifty-two week low of $12.53 and a fifty-two week high of $25.90.

Slide Insurance (NASDAQ:SLDE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 28th. The company reported $1.02 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.82 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $389.28 million for the quarter. Slide Insurance had a return on equity of 48.38% and a net margin of 38.86%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Slide Insurance will post 3.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Slide Insurance announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback plan on Tuesday, April 28th that permits the company to repurchase $100.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to reacquire up to 4.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Slide Insurance

In related news, CEO Bruce Lucas sold 91,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $18.76, for a total transaction of $1,707,160.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 36,154,046 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $678,249,902.96. The trade was a 0.25% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Robert Gries, Jr. sold 28,212 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $18.55, for a total value of $523,332.60. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 1,890,205 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $35,063,302.75. The trade was a 1.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders have sold 4,180,678 shares of company stock worth $77,257,003. 50.80% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of SLDE. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Slide Insurance during the 2nd quarter worth $33,063,000. Capital World Investors boosted its position in shares of Slide Insurance by 49.4% during the 3rd quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 4,483,180 shares of the company’s stock worth $70,767,000 after acquiring an additional 1,483,180 shares in the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. boosted its position in shares of Slide Insurance by 314.8% during the 3rd quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,378,054 shares of the company’s stock worth $21,753,000 after acquiring an additional 1,045,826 shares in the last quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Slide Insurance by 1,375.7% during the 4th quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 892,586 shares of the company’s stock worth $17,388,000 after acquiring an additional 832,102 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Slide Insurance during the 4th quarter worth about $13,016,000.

Key Stories Impacting Slide Insurance

Here are the key news stories impacting Slide Insurance this week:

• Negative Sentiment: CEO Bruce Lucas sold 91,000 shares at an average price of $18.76, trimming his stake by 0.25%. Large CEO selling can weigh on investor sentiment because it may signal limited near-term upside. SEC filing
• Negative Sentiment: Bruce Lucas also sold 173,317 shares earlier in the week at $18.81, adding to the impression that top executives are reducing exposure after the stock’s recent run. SEC filing
• Negative Sentiment: COO Shannon Lucas sold 9,000 shares at $18.76 and separately sold 17,141 shares at $18.81, while director Andrew Pardo Wright sold 6,316 shares at $18.90. Multiple insider sales in a short period can pressure sentiment, even if the amounts are relatively small versus the company’s ownership base. SEC filing
• Neutral Sentiment: Short interest was reported at 0 shares, so there is no meaningful bearish short positioning data to point to right now. Related article

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.