Arch Capital Group Ltd. (NASDAQ:ACGL) Sees Significant Growth in Short Interest

Arch Capital Group Ltd. (NASDAQ:ACGL) saw a significant increase in short interest during the month of May. As of May 15th, there was short interest totalling 3,840,000 shares, an increase of 18.9% from the April 30th total of 3,230,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,660,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.3 days. Currently, 1.1% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ACGL has been the topic of several analyst reports. UBS Group lowered their target price on Arch Capital Group from $127.00 to $124.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and issued a $125.00 target price on shares of Arch Capital Group in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on shares of Arch Capital Group from $105.00 to $106.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on Arch Capital Group from $125.00 to $110.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of Arch Capital Group from $104.00 to $113.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Arch Capital Group has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $115.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Francois Morin sold 12,630 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $94.58, for a total value of $1,194,545.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 274,681 shares in the company, valued at $25,979,328.98. This represents a 4.40% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Nicolas Papadopoulo sold 7,636 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.48, for a total transaction of $706,177.28. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 795,718 shares in the company, valued at $73,588,000.64. The trade was a 0.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 111,976 shares of company stock valued at $10,531,038. 4.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Arch Capital Group

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of ACGL. Pittenger & Anderson Inc. boosted its holdings in Arch Capital Group by 56.6% in the 4th quarter. Pittenger & Anderson Inc. now owns 6,720 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $621,000 after acquiring an additional 2,430 shares during the period. Asahi Life Asset Management CO. LTD. acquired a new position in shares of Arch Capital Group during the fourth quarter worth $366,000. Northstar Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Arch Capital Group by 5.1% in the fourth quarter. Northstar Group Inc. now owns 122,197 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $11,285,000 after purchasing an additional 5,947 shares during the period. William Blair Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Arch Capital Group by 33.7% during the 4th quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 624,055 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $57,631,000 after purchasing an additional 157,197 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Independent Advisor Alliance grew its holdings in Arch Capital Group by 98.8% during the 4th quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 6,925 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $640,000 after purchasing an additional 3,442 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.07% of the company’s stock.

Arch Capital Group Stock Performance

Shares of ACGL stock opened at $95.82 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The company has a market cap of $35.91 billion, a PE ratio of 8.56, a P/E/G ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.57. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $92.62 and its 200-day simple moving average is $93.03. Arch Capital Group has a 52 week low of $82.49 and a 52 week high of $116.47.

Arch Capital Group (NASDAQ:ACGL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The insurance provider reported $1.54 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.59 by ($0.05). The company had revenue of $4.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.75 billion. Arch Capital Group had a net margin of 24.73% and a return on equity of 17.96%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.45 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Arch Capital Group will post 8.42 EPS for the current year.

About Arch Capital Group

Arch Capital Group Ltd., together with its subsidiaries, provides insurance, reinsurance, and mortgage insurance products worldwide. The company's Insurance segment offers primary and excess casualty coverages; loss sensitive primary casualty insurance programs; directors' and officers' liability, errors and omissions liability, employment practices and fiduciary liability, crime, professional indemnity, and other financial related coverages; medical professional and general liability insurance coverages; and workers' compensation and umbrella liability, as well as commercial automobile and inland marine products.