Empowered Funds LLC Acquires New Position in Palomar Holdings, Inc. $PLMR

Empowered Funds LLC acquired a new stake in Palomar Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLMR) during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 195,356 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,691,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Palomar in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Kestra Advisory Services LLC purchased a new position in Palomar in the fourth quarter worth $33,000. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. lifted its holdings in Palomar by 81.5% in the fourth quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 294 shares of the company’s stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 132 shares during the period. Quantbot Technologies LP acquired a new stake in Palomar in the second quarter valued at $43,000. Finally, Frazier Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Palomar during the 2nd quarter worth $51,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.25% of the company’s stock.

Palomar Stock Down 1.7%

Palomar stock opened at $129.55 on Friday. Palomar Holdings, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $100.81 and a fifty-two week high of $147.62. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.41 and a beta of 0.40. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $132.22 and its two-hundred day moving average is $124.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 0.50 and a current ratio of 0.50.

Palomar (NASDAQ:PLMR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The company reported $2.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.19 by $0.17. Palomar had a return on equity of 23.28% and a net margin of 18.61%.The business had revenue of $314.42 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $621.52 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.76 EPS. Analysts predict that Palomar Holdings, Inc. will post 9.21 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Palomar Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 19th will be given a dividend of $0.45 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 19th. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.4%. Palomar’s payout ratio is presently 24.19%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Mac Armstrong sold 3,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $130.60, for a total value of $457,100.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 322,388 shares in the company, valued at $42,103,872.80. This represents a 1.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, COO Rodolphe Herve sold 1,207 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $135.35, for a total transaction of $163,367.45. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer owned 3,548 shares in the company, valued at $480,221.80. This represents a 25.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 23,665 shares of company stock valued at $3,138,093. 3.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Palomar from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Thursday, June 18th. Evercore set a $152.00 price objective on shares of Palomar in a report on Friday, July 10th. Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of Palomar from $132.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Palomar from $150.00 to $167.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, July 20th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of Palomar from $166.00 to $167.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, August 10th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Palomar has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $162.75.

Palomar 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.