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

Arch Capital Group Ltd. (NASDAQ:ACGL) was the target of a large growth in short interest in August. As of August 15th, there was short interest totalling 5,110,000 shares, a growth of 12.6% from the July 31st total of 4,540,000 shares. Approximately 1.4% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 1,550,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.3 days.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Arch Capital Group news, CFO Francois Morin sold 11,460 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $102.46, for a total value of $1,174,191.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 221,779 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,723,476.34. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 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 added to or reduced their stakes in ACGL. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Arch Capital Group by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 40,858,890 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $3,776,996,000 after purchasing an additional 104,008 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors boosted its stake in shares of Arch Capital Group by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 10,611,092 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $788,086,000 after purchasing an additional 58,862 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Arch Capital Group by 4.4% during the 2nd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 7,100,952 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $716,415,000 after purchasing an additional 300,716 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its stake in shares of Arch Capital Group by 1.7% during the 1st quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 5,907,122 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $546,054,000 after purchasing an additional 99,329 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Arch Capital Group during the 4th quarter valued at about $309,496,000. Institutional investors own 89.07% of the company’s stock.

Arch Capital Group Stock Performance

Arch Capital Group stock opened at $113.09 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a current ratio of 0.60. Arch Capital Group has a fifty-two week low of $72.85 and a fifty-two week high of $113.66. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $100.24 and its 200-day moving average price is $96.29. The stock has a market cap of $42.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 0.58.

Arch Capital Group (NASDAQ:ACGL) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The insurance provider reported $2.57 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.21 by $0.36. Arch Capital Group had a net margin of 35.19% and a return on equity of 21.42%. The company had revenue of $3.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.89 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.92 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 10.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Arch Capital Group will post 9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ACGL has been the subject of a number of research reports. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Arch Capital Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Evercore ISI increased their target price on shares of Arch Capital Group from $100.00 to $104.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Arch Capital Group from $106.00 to $108.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of Arch Capital Group from $120.00 to $121.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, JMP Securities upped their price target on shares of Arch Capital Group from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $106.50.

Arch Capital Group Company Profile

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.