Short Interest in Arch Capital Group Ltd. (NASDAQ:ACGL) Declines By 14.4%

Arch Capital Group Ltd. (NASDAQ:ACGL) saw a large decline in short interest in January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 4,740,000 shares, a decline of 14.4% from the January 15th total of 5,540,000 shares. Approximately 1.3% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,930,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.5 days.

Arch Capital Group Stock Down 2.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ ACGL opened at $88.20 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $33.18 billion, a PE ratio of 5.92, a P/E/G ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 0.64. Arch Capital Group has a 12-month low of $83.97 and a 12-month high of $116.47. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $92.53 and its 200 day simple moving average is $100.95. The company has a quick ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 0.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17.

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 quarter last year, the firm earned $2.45 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Arch Capital Group will post 8.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ACGL has been the subject of several analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price 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. Bank of America lowered their price objective on shares of Arch Capital Group from $143.00 to $136.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 15th. StockNews.com cut shares of Arch Capital Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and set a $125.00 price objective on shares of Arch Capital Group in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Arch Capital Group from $98.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $116.53.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of ACGL. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management raised its holdings in Arch Capital Group by 3.5% during the fourth quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 197,111 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $18,203,000 after buying an additional 6,663 shares during the last quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in Arch Capital Group by 5.3% during the third quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 111,229 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $12,444,000 after buying an additional 5,614 shares during the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its holdings in Arch Capital Group by 10.0% during the third quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 71,721 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $8,024,000 after buying an additional 6,521 shares during the last quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC raised its holdings in Arch Capital Group by 26.6% during the third quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 25,465 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,849,000 after buying an additional 5,345 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Banque Cantonale Vaudoise raised its holdings in Arch Capital Group by 172.2% during the third quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise now owns 55,423 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $6,201,000 after buying an additional 35,060 shares during the last quarter. 89.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.