ProAssurance (NYSE:PRA) Sets New 12-Month High – Time to Buy?

ProAssurance Corporation (NYSE:PRA)’s stock price reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $24.99 and last traded at $24.9950, with a volume of 75861 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $24.65.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Wall Street Zen cut ProAssurance from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Sunday, May 10th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of ProAssurance from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of ProAssurance from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, ProAssurance has a consensus rating of “Buy”.

ProAssurance Trading Up 1.4%

The company has a market capitalization of $1.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.00 and a beta of 0.02. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $24.58 and a 200 day moving average price of $24.42. The company has a current ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31.

ProAssurance (NYSE:PRA) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The insurance provider reported $0.25 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.25. ProAssurance had a net margin of 5.99% and a return on equity of 6.82%. The company had revenue of $262.63 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $216.86 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.13 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that ProAssurance Corporation will post 1.25 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On ProAssurance

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in PRA. Magnetar Financial LLC lifted its position in ProAssurance by 15.1% during the 4th quarter. Magnetar Financial LLC now owns 3,484,563 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $84,187,000 after buying an additional 458,390 shares in the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its position in ProAssurance by 41.6% during the third quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 2,711,805 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $65,056,000 after purchasing an additional 796,132 shares during the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC boosted its position in ProAssurance by 50.3% during the first quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 1,573,422 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $38,879,000 after purchasing an additional 526,262 shares during the last quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd grew its stake in ProAssurance by 186.1% in the second quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 1,491,060 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $34,041,000 after purchasing an additional 969,833 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in ProAssurance by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,199,244 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $28,978,000 after purchasing an additional 4,607 shares in the last quarter. 85.58% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About ProAssurance

ProAssurance Corporation is a specialty property and casualty insurance holding company headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama. The company focuses primarily on professional liability coverage for healthcare providers, including physicians, surgeons, dentists and allied health professionals. ProAssurance operates through a group of insurance subsidiaries that underwrite both occurrence- and claims-made policies tailored to the unique risks faced by the medical community.

In addition to professional liability insurance, ProAssurance offers a suite of complementary property and casualty products, such as general liability, workers’ compensation, property and inland marine, and umbrella coverage.