Arch Capital Group Ltd. (NASDAQ:ACGL) Short Interest Down 14.4% in January

Arch Capital Group Ltd. (NASDAQ:ACGL) was the target of a large drop in short interest in the month of January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 4,740,000 shares, a drop of 14.4% from the January 15th total of 5,540,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 1,930,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.5 days. Currently, 1.3% of the company’s shares are sold short.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on ACGL shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price target on Arch Capital Group from $120.00 to $113.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Barclays lowered their target price on Arch Capital Group from $120.00 to $100.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Arch Capital Group from $110.00 to $106.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Arch Capital Group from $107.00 to $106.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Arch Capital Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Arch Capital Group has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $116.53.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Arch Capital Group by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 41,999,603 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $3,878,663,000 after purchasing an additional 182,150 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Arch Capital Group by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 16,587,446 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,855,803,000 after buying an additional 172,628 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Arch Capital Group by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,010,756 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,014,648,000 after buying an additional 180,493 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in Arch Capital Group by 10.5% during the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 8,222,244 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $759,324,000 after buying an additional 783,506 shares during the period. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its position in Arch Capital Group by 4.4% during the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 5,350,868 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $488,992,000 after acquiring an additional 226,617 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.07% of the company’s stock.

Arch Capital Group Stock Down 2.2 %

Shares of Arch Capital Group stock opened at $88.20 on Monday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $92.53 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $100.98. The stock has a market capitalization of $33.18 billion, a PE ratio of 5.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 0.64. Arch Capital Group has a 52-week low of $83.97 and a 52-week high of $116.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a current ratio of 0.58.

Arch Capital Group (NASDAQ:ACGL) last issued its earnings results on Monday, February 10th. The insurance provider reported $2.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.90 by $0.36. Arch Capital Group had a net margin of 33.86% and a return on equity of 18.94%. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.45 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Arch Capital Group will post 8.86 EPS for the current fiscal 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.