ProAssurance Co. (NYSE:PRA) Short Interest Up 44.7% in March

ProAssurance Co. (NYSE:PRA) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 911,100 shares, a growth of 44.7% from the March 15th total of 629,700 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 762,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.2 days. Approximately 1.8% of the shares of the company are short sold.

ProAssurance Trading Down 0.6 %

ProAssurance stock opened at $23.16 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $1.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.90 and a beta of -0.09. ProAssurance has a fifty-two week low of $10.76 and a fifty-two week high of $23.70. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $19.04 and its 200-day moving average price is $16.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 0.28 and a current ratio of 0.28.

ProAssurance (NYSE:PRA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 24th. The insurance provider reported $0.36 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.17 by $0.19. ProAssurance had a return on equity of 2.65% and a net margin of 3.71%. The firm had revenue of $287.52 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $274.56 million. Equities research analysts forecast that ProAssurance will post 0.8 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On ProAssurance

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in ProAssurance by 307.3% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,073 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $48,000 after acquiring an additional 1,564 shares in the last quarter. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. purchased a new stake in ProAssurance during the first quarter valued at about $205,000. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its stake in ProAssurance by 10.9% during the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 157,977 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,513,000 after purchasing an additional 15,542 shares during the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of ProAssurance by 44.4% in the 4th quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 15,354 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $244,000 after purchasing an additional 4,723 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its position in shares of ProAssurance by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 28,991 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $461,000 after purchasing an additional 1,127 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 85.58% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently commented on PRA. Raymond James cut shares of ProAssurance from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Citigroup lowered ProAssurance to a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Citizens Jmp lowered ProAssurance from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, StockNews.com began coverage on ProAssurance in a research note on Thursday. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $18.67.

About ProAssurance

ProAssurance Corporation, through its subsidiaries, provides property and casualty insurance, and reinsurance products in the United States. The company operates through Specialty Property and Casualty, Workers’ Compensation Insurance, and Segregated Portfolio Cell Reinsurance segments. It offers professional liability insurance to healthcare providers and institutions, and attorneys and their firms; medical technology liability insurance to medical technology and life sciences companies; and custom alternative risk solutions, including assumed reinsurance, loss portfolio transfers, and captive cell programs for healthcare professional liability insureds.