First Trust Advisors LP Acquires 2,279,147 Shares of Arch Capital Group Ltd. $ACGL

First Trust Advisors LP grew its holdings in Arch Capital Group Ltd. (NASDAQ:ACGL) by 409.5% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 2,835,648 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 2,279,147 shares during the quarter. First Trust Advisors LP’s holdings in Arch Capital Group were worth $257,278,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Arch Capital Group by 426.0% in the third quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 384 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 311 shares during the last quarter. Quent Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Arch Capital Group during the third quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Arch Capital Group by 63.3% in the third quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 418 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 162 shares in the last quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. raised its position in Arch Capital Group by 31.4% in the 2nd quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. now owns 469 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $43,000 after purchasing an additional 112 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Root Financial Partners LLC bought a new position in Arch Capital Group in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $54,000. 89.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Arch Capital Group Stock Performance

ACGL stock opened at $97.21 on Friday. Arch Capital Group Ltd. has a twelve month low of $82.44 and a twelve month high of $103.39. The company has a quick ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 0.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The company has a market cap of $34.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.91 and a beta of 0.40. The business’s fifty day moving average is $96.30 and its 200-day moving average is $92.95.

Arch Capital Group (NASDAQ:ACGL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 9th. The insurance provider reported $2.98 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.34 by $0.64. The business had revenue of $4.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.94 billion. Arch Capital Group had a return on equity of 16.73% and a net margin of 22.07%.During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.26 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Arch Capital Group Ltd. will post 8.42 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have commented on ACGL shares. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “sell” rating and issued a $93.00 price objective (up from $84.00) on shares of Arch Capital Group in a research report on Wednesday, January 7th. Citigroup restated a “buy” rating and set a $120.00 target price (up from $113.00) on shares of Arch Capital Group in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Evercore set a $100.00 price target on Arch Capital Group and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 7th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Arch Capital Group from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Arch Capital Group from $111.00 to $117.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 7th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Arch Capital Group presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $109.20.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider John M. Pasquesi sold 203,866 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.90, for a total transaction of $19,143,017.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 351,356 shares in the company, valued at approximately $32,992,328.40. The trade was a 36.72% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Maamoun Rajeh sold 47,430 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $96.12, for a total value of $4,558,971.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 433,589 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $41,676,574.68. This trade represents a 9.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 260,096 shares of company stock valued at $24,530,685 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 4.20% of the company’s stock.

About Arch Capital Group

Arch Capital Group Ltd. (NASDAQ: ACGL) is a Bermuda-based insurance and reinsurance holding company that underwrites a broad range of property and casualty, mortgage, and specialty risk products. The company operates through a group of underwriting subsidiaries and platforms to provide insurance, reinsurance and related risk solutions tailored to commercial, institutional and individual clients.

Arch’s product mix includes treaty and facultative reinsurance, primary casualty and property insurance, mortgage insurance and other specialty lines.