Slide Insurance (NASDAQ:SLDE) Reaches New 12-Month High on Better-Than-Expected Earnings

Slide Insurance Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:SLDE)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Wednesday after the company announced better than expected quarterly earnings. The company traded as high as $23.00 and last traded at $22.8150, with a volume of 696767 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $21.40.

The company reported $1.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.88 by $0.18. Slide Insurance had a return on equity of 48.38% and a net margin of 38.86%.The firm had revenue of $386.82 million during the quarter.

Slide Insurance Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 28th. Investors of record on Friday, August 14th will be issued a $0.07 dividend. This represents a $0.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 14th.

Slide Insurance declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase program on Tuesday, April 28th that permits the company to repurchase $100.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to buy up to 4.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of Slide Insurance from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $20.00 price objective (down from $23.00) on shares of Slide Insurance in a research note on Monday, July 6th. Barclays increased their target price on Slide Insurance from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Wall Street Zen raised Slide Insurance from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 9th. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded shares of Slide Insurance from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $24.00.

Insider Transactions at Slide Insurance

In other news, CEO Bruce Lucas sold 455,000 shares of Slide Insurance stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.06, for a total transaction of $8,672,300.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 35,429,165 shares in the company, valued at approximately $675,279,884.90. The trade was a 1.27% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Robert Gries, Jr. sold 84,636 shares of Slide Insurance stock in a transaction on Monday, July 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.34, for a total value of $1,721,496.24. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 1,777,357 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $36,151,441.38. The trade was a 4.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 2,628,743 shares of company stock valued at $49,342,172 over the last ninety days. 50.80% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Slide Insurance

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

Slide Insurance Price Performance

The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $18.85 and its 200-day moving average price is $18.16. The company has a market capitalization of $2.56 billion and a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.22. The company has a quick ratio of 1.33, a current ratio of 1.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

About Slide Insurance

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.