James River Group Holdings, Ltd. (NASDAQ:JRVR) Sees Significant Increase in Short Interest

James River Group Holdings, Ltd. (NASDAQ:JRVR) saw a large growth in short interest in the month of May. As of May 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,190,000 shares, a growth of 7.2% from the May 15th total of 1,110,000 shares. Approximately 3.3% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 866,100 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.4 days.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On James River Group

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Graham Capital Management L.P. lifted its holdings in James River Group by 11.1% in the 3rd quarter. Graham Capital Management L.P. now owns 19,155 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $294,000 after buying an additional 1,920 shares in the last quarter. Aigen Investment Management LP bought a new stake in shares of James River Group in the 3rd quarter worth about $169,000. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of James River Group by 415.9% in the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 336,920 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $5,172,000 after purchasing an additional 271,613 shares during the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. increased its position in shares of James River Group by 88.5% in the 3rd quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 133,297 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,046,000 after purchasing an additional 62,596 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swiss National Bank increased its position in shares of James River Group by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 82,699 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,269,000 after purchasing an additional 1,000 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.21% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently issued reports on JRVR shares. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and set a $15.00 price objective on shares of James River Group in a research note on Monday, April 15th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of James River Group from $34.00 to $15.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 5th. Truist Financial lowered their price objective on shares of James River Group from $15.00 to $11.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 1st. Compass Point raised shares of James River Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $12.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective on shares of James River Group from $11.00 to $9.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $12.33.

James River Group Stock Performance

NASDAQ:JRVR opened at $7.70 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a quick ratio of 0.57 and a current ratio of 0.57. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $8.23 and its 200 day simple moving average is $8.84. James River Group has a twelve month low of $6.35 and a twelve month high of $20.34.

James River Group (NASDAQ:JRVR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 8th. The insurance provider reported $0.39 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.39. James River Group had a negative net margin of 10.56% and a positive return on equity of 12.85%. The firm had revenue of $201.13 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $172.26 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.56 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that James River Group will post 1.75 earnings per share for the current year.

James River Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 10th will be issued a $0.05 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 10th. This represents a $0.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.60%. James River Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently -9.57%.

About James River Group

James River Group Holdings, Ltd., through its subsidiaries, provides specialty insurance services. It operates through Excess and Surplus Lines, and Specialty Admitted Insurance segments. The Excess and Surplus Lines segment underwrites liability and property insurance in the United States Puerto Rice, and the United States Virgin Islands.