Schwartz Investment Counsel Inc. Takes $9.59 Million Position in Arch Capital Group Ltd. $ACGL

Schwartz Investment Counsel Inc. purchased a new position in Arch Capital Group Ltd. (NASDAQ:ACGL) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm purchased 100,000 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $9,592,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of ACGL. Cooke & Bieler LP bought a new position in Arch Capital Group during the third quarter valued at approximately $210,856,000. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Arch Capital Group by 409.5% during the 3rd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 2,835,648 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $257,278,000 after acquiring an additional 2,279,147 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its stake in Arch Capital Group by 289.1% in the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,368,648 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $124,615,000 after buying an additional 1,016,919 shares during the period. Two Sigma Investments LP grew its stake in Arch Capital Group by 112.4% in the third quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 1,895,222 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $171,953,000 after purchasing an additional 1,003,004 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS Group AG raised its holdings in shares of Arch Capital Group by 56.4% in the third quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 2,738,518 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $248,466,000 after acquiring an additional 987,398 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.07% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Arch Capital Group news, Director Daniel Joseph Houston purchased 5,300 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 30th. The stock was bought at an average price of $94.08 per share, for a total transaction of $498,624.00. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 9,915 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $932,803.20. This represents a 114.84% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider David Gansberg sold 5,907 shares of Arch Capital Group stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $96.37, for a total value of $569,257.59. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 336,559 shares in the company, valued at $32,434,190.83. The trade was a 1.72% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last three months, insiders sold 32,837 shares of company stock worth $2,766,946. 3.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have commented on the stock. UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $114.00 price target (up from $113.00) on shares of Arch Capital Group in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. Morgan Stanley set a $105.00 target price on shares of Arch Capital Group in a report on Friday, May 1st. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price target on Arch Capital Group from $108.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 11th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $100.00 target price (up from $97.00) on shares of Arch Capital Group in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. Finally, Mizuho reduced their price objective on Arch Capital Group from $102.00 to $101.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $106.32.

Arch Capital Group Trading Up 0.5%

NASDAQ ACGL opened at $94.31 on Wednesday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $95.77 and its two-hundred day moving average is $94.52. Arch Capital Group Ltd. has a one year low of $82.44 and a one year high of $103.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a current ratio of 0.55. The firm has a market cap of $32.95 billion, a PE ratio of 7.24, a P/E/G ratio of 5.15 and a beta of 0.35.

Arch Capital Group (NASDAQ:ACGL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, March 31st. The insurance provider reported $2.50 earnings per share for the quarter. The firm had revenue of $4.52 billion for the quarter. Arch Capital Group had a return on equity of 17.61% and a net margin of 24.64%. Analysts expect that Arch Capital Group Ltd. will post 9.3 earnings per share for the current year.

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.