Wells Fargo & Company Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Arch Capital Group (NASDAQ:ACGL) Stock

Arch Capital Group (NASDAQ:ACGL) had its target price hoisted by stock analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from $106.00 to $109.00 in a report issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “overweight” rating on the insurance provider’s stock. Wells Fargo & Company‘s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 9.16% from the company’s previous close.

ACGL has been the subject of several other research reports. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Arch Capital Group from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 4th. Citigroup restated a “market outperform” rating on shares of Arch Capital Group in a report on Friday, January 16th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $97.00 price objective (up from $93.00) on shares of Arch Capital Group in a research note on Wednesday, January 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on Arch Capital Group from $100.00 to $102.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $125.00 target price on shares of Arch Capital Group in a research report on Friday, January 16th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Arch Capital Group presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $108.67.

Arch Capital Group Stock Up 1.3%

Shares of NASDAQ:ACGL opened at $99.85 on Wednesday. Arch Capital Group has a fifty-two week low of $82.44 and a fifty-two week high of $103.39. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $95.00 and its 200 day moving average price is $91.80. The company has a quick ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 0.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The stock has a market cap of $36.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.95 and a beta of 0.42.

Arch Capital Group (NASDAQ:ACGL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 9th. The insurance provider reported $2.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.34 by $0.64. Arch Capital Group had a return on equity of 16.73% and a net margin of 22.07%.The firm had revenue of $3.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.94 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.26 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Arch Capital Group will post 8.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Francois Morin sold 8,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $94.62, for a total value of $756,960.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 266,681 shares in the company, valued at $25,233,356.22. This trade represents a 2.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider John M. Pasquesi sold 203,866 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.90, for a total value of $19,143,017.40. Following the sale, 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. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 220,666 shares of company stock valued at $20,728,673 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 4.20% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Arch Capital Group

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. boosted its position in Arch Capital Group by 157.9% during the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 673 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $65,000 after acquiring an additional 412 shares during the period. Sivia Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Arch Capital Group in the second quarter worth approximately $253,000. Apollon Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Arch Capital Group by 22.3% during the second quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,411 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $402,000 after purchasing an additional 803 shares during the period. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Arch Capital Group by 41.6% during the second quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 39,494 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $3,596,000 after purchasing an additional 11,609 shares during the period. Finally, MGO One Seven LLC grew its position in Arch Capital Group by 563.6% during the second quarter. MGO One Seven LLC now owns 20,538 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,870,000 after purchasing an additional 17,443 shares in the last quarter. 89.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.