Ategrity Specialty (NYSE:ASIC) Shares Gap Up Following Earnings Beat

Ategrity Specialty (NYSE:ASIC)’s share price gapped up prior to trading on Friday following a better than expected earnings announcement. The stock had previously closed at $17.50, but opened at $19.22. Ategrity Specialty shares last traded at $20.18, with a volume of 49,615 shares trading hands.

The company reported $0.51 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.35 by $0.16. Ategrity Specialty had a net margin of 17.44% and a return on equity of 14.17%. The company had revenue of $123.34 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $111.45 million.

Ategrity Specialty News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Ategrity Specialty this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q4 results beat — ASIC reported $0.51 EPS vs. $0.35 consensus and revenue of $123.3M vs. $111.5M expected, with solid net margin and ROE metrics; the formal release and highlights provided detail the record quarter. BusinessWire Q4 Release
• Positive Sentiment: $50M share repurchase — The company launched a $50 million buyback, which reduces float and supports EPS; this is a clear capital-allocation positive that tends to lift shares. TipRanks Announcement
• Positive Sentiment: Strong near-term outlook — Management signaled Q1 growth roughly 20% above market and reiterated momentum after the record quarter, which supports revenue/earnings upside expectations. MSN Coverage
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst upgrade and higher target — Wells Fargo raised its price target to $27 and put an “overweight” rating on ASIC, signaling ~25% upside from recent levels and likely drawing more buy-side interest. Benzinga Report
• Neutral Sentiment: Call transcript & deeper detail — The earnings call transcript offers management color on underwriting performance and reserve development; useful for investors doing deeper due diligence but not new market-moving data beyond the results and buyback. Seeking Alpha Transcript

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on ASIC. Barclays increased their price objective on Ategrity Specialty from $25.00 to $26.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday. Weiss Ratings initiated coverage on Ategrity Specialty in a research report on Wednesday, January 14th. They set a “sell (d)” rating for the company. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Ategrity Specialty from $25.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $26.50.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ategrity Specialty

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Nuveen LLC boosted its stake in Ategrity Specialty by 9.6% in the 4th quarter. Nuveen LLC now owns 704,961 shares of the company’s stock valued at $14,811,000 after buying an additional 61,725 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in shares of Ategrity Specialty by 57.7% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 287,644 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,044,000 after purchasing an additional 105,254 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ategrity Specialty by 312.6% in the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 207,167 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,353,000 after purchasing an additional 156,952 shares during the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. grew its holdings in shares of Ategrity Specialty by 298.1% in the 4th quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 170,734 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,587,000 after purchasing an additional 127,849 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State of Wisconsin Investment Board increased its position in shares of Ategrity Specialty by 26.1% during the 4th quarter. State of Wisconsin Investment Board now owns 157,601 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,311,000 after purchasing an additional 32,601 shares in the last quarter.

Ategrity Specialty Stock Performance

The firm has a market cap of $1.04 billion and a PE ratio of 24.84.

About Ategrity Specialty

We are a profitable and growing specialty insurance company dedicated to providing excess and surplus (“E&S”) products to small to medium-sized businesses (“SMBs”) across the United States. We have built a proprietary underwriting platform that combines sophisticated data analytics with automated and streamlined processes to efficiently serve our clients and deliver long-term value to our stockholders. The SMB market is characterized by large volumes of small-sized policies, and we believe our competitive edge lies in our ability to offer consistent, high-speed, and low-touch interactions that our distribution partners value.