Palomar (NASDAQ:PLMR) Trading Up 5.6% – What’s Next?

Palomar Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLMR)’s share price was up 5.6% during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $130.37 and last traded at $129.8870. Approximately 29,895 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 85% from the average daily volume of 196,121 shares. The stock had previously closed at $122.99.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on PLMR. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Palomar from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of Palomar from $170.00 to $171.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 6th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Palomar from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 14th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Palomar from $145.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 7th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $159.50.

Palomar Price Performance

The company has a market cap of $3.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.91 and a beta of 0.44. The company’s 50-day moving average is $127.78 and its two-hundred day moving average is $123.40.

Palomar (NASDAQ:PLMR) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The company reported $2.01 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.56 by $0.45. Palomar had a return on equity of 21.93% and a net margin of 22.59%.The business had revenue of $244.66 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $207.98 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.23 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Palomar Holdings, Inc. will post 5.99 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO T Christopher Uchida sold 545 shares of Palomar stock in a transaction that occurred on Saturday, January 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $121.74, for a total value of $66,348.30. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 14,005 shares in the company, valued at $1,704,968.70. The trade was a 3.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, President Jon Christianson sold 515 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Saturday, January 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $121.75, for a total transaction of $62,701.25. Following the transaction, the president owned 65,421 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,965,006.75. This trade represents a 0.78% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 58,998 shares of company stock worth $7,255,669. 3.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of PLMR. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in shares of Palomar by 234.1% during the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 798,361 shares of the company’s stock valued at $123,147,000 after purchasing an additional 559,383 shares during the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. grew its position in Palomar by 290.2% during the second quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 497,080 shares of the company’s stock valued at $76,675,000 after buying an additional 369,697 shares during the period. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP increased its holdings in Palomar by 81.0% during the third quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 738,528 shares of the company’s stock valued at $86,223,000 after buying an additional 330,592 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. raised its position in Palomar by 72.1% in the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 785,165 shares of the company’s stock worth $105,809,000 after acquiring an additional 328,993 shares during the period. Finally, AustralianSuper Pty Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Palomar during the 2nd quarter worth $37,253,000. Institutional investors own 90.25% of the company’s stock.

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.