Arch Capital Group (NASDAQ:ACGL) Upgraded by StockNews.com to “Buy”

Arch Capital Group (NASDAQ:ACGL) was upgraded by analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued to investors on Thursday.

ACGL has been the topic of several other reports. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Arch Capital Group from $104.00 to $109.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Arch Capital Group from $109.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. Roth Mkm reissued a “buy” rating and set a $110.00 price objective on shares of Arch Capital Group in a research report on Tuesday, April 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Arch Capital Group from $88.00 to $92.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their price target on Arch Capital Group from $98.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 30th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given 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 an average target price of $102.00.

Arch Capital Group Stock Down 2.3 %

Shares of Arch Capital Group stock opened at $97.65 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $36.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.71, a P/E/G ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 0.58. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $99.42 and a 200-day simple moving average of $89.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 0.59 and a quick ratio of 0.59. Arch Capital Group has a 52-week low of $72.33 and a 52-week high of $103.79.

Arch Capital Group (NASDAQ:ACGL) last posted its earnings results on Monday, April 29th. The insurance provider reported $2.45 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.06 by $0.39. Arch Capital Group had a net margin of 33.65% and a return on equity of 21.85%. The company had revenue of $4.09 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.77 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.73 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 19.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Arch Capital Group will post 8.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Arch Capital Group

In related news, CEO David Gansberg sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $96.64, for a total transaction of $966,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 228,035 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,037,302.40. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 4.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Davis Asset Management L.P. increased its position in shares of Arch Capital Group by 441.7% during the 4th quarter. Davis Asset Management L.P. now owns 6,500,000 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $482,755,000 after purchasing an additional 5,300,000 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Arch Capital Group in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $309,496,000. Capital International Investors raised its stake in shares of Arch Capital Group by 61.1% in the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 4,112,577 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $380,167,000 after acquiring an additional 1,560,173 shares during the last quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main boosted its holdings in shares of Arch Capital Group by 61.6% in the 4th quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 3,191,282 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $237,017,000 after acquiring an additional 1,216,080 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in Arch Capital Group by 11.4% during the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 6,800,236 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $628,614,000 after acquiring an additional 693,608 shares during the last quarter. 89.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.