Empowered Funds LLC Invests $24.69 Million in Palomar Holdings, Inc. $PLMR

Empowered Funds LLC bought a new position in shares of Palomar Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLMR) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 195,356 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,691,000. Empowered Funds LLC owned about 0.74% of Palomar as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in Palomar during the second quarter worth approximately $556,348,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Palomar by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,698,278 shares of the company’s stock valued at $363,620,000 after buying an additional 67,038 shares in the last quarter. Jupiter Topco LLC purchased a new position in shares of Palomar in the 2nd quarter valued at $132,166,000. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its position in shares of Palomar by 17.4% in the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 933,993 shares of the company’s stock valued at $111,664,000 after buying an additional 138,368 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Westfield Capital Management Co. LP raised its stake in Palomar by 13.8% during the 4th quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 840,226 shares of the company’s stock worth $113,229,000 after acquiring an additional 101,698 shares in the last quarter. 90.25% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Palomar news, insider Timothy Carter sold 480 shares of Palomar stock in a transaction that occurred on Sunday, June 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $124.29, for a total value of $59,659.20. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 1,670 shares in the company, valued at approximately $207,564.30. This trade represents a 22.33% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, COO Rodolphe Herve sold 1,207 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $135.35, for a total value of $163,367.45. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 3,548 shares in the company, valued at approximately $480,221.80. The trade was a 25.38% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 23,665 shares of company stock worth $3,138,093. 3.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PLMR has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Palomar from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. Evercore set a $152.00 target price on Palomar in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on Palomar from $166.00 to $167.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, August 10th. Piper Sandler raised their price target on Palomar from $132.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. Finally, Zacks Research lowered Palomar from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, May 15th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $162.75.

Palomar Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PLMR opened at $129.55 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $132.22 and a 200-day simple moving average of $124.09. Palomar Holdings, Inc. has a one year low of $100.81 and a one year high of $147.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 0.50 and a current ratio of 0.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.41 and a beta of 0.40.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.19 by $0.17. Palomar had a return on equity of 23.28% and a net margin of 18.61%.The firm had revenue of $314.42 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $621.52 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.76 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Palomar Holdings, Inc. will post 9.21 EPS for the current year.

Palomar Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 19th. Palomar’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.