Arch Capital Group Ltd. $ACGL Shares Acquired by Legal & General Group Plc

Key Points

• Legal & General Group Plc increased its stake in Arch Capital Group by 4.3% in the fourth quarter, buying an additional 121,090 shares and bringing its total holding to 2.94 million shares worth about $282.4 million.
• Arch Capital Group reported solid quarterly results with earnings of $2.50 per share on revenue of $4.52 billion, while analysts currently expect full-year EPS of 9.27.
• Wall Street remains cautious overall despite some upbeat price targets, with a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $106.32; insiders also sold shares over the past 90 days.

Legal & General Group Plc lifted its position in shares of Arch Capital Group Ltd. (NASDAQ:ACGL - Free Report) by 4.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,944,169 shares of the insurance provider's stock after buying an additional 121,090 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc owned approximately 0.81% of Arch Capital Group worth $282,405,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Bridges Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Arch Capital Group during the 3rd quarter worth $1,413,000. Allianz Asset Management GmbH increased its holdings in shares of Arch Capital Group by 12.5% during the 3rd quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 192,567 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $17,472,000 after buying an additional 21,323 shares during the last quarter. High Ground Investment Management LLP increased its holdings in shares of Arch Capital Group by 3.5% during the 3rd quarter. High Ground Investment Management LLP now owns 1,714,668 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $155,572,000 after buying an additional 58,151 shares during the last quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Arch Capital Group by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC now owns 13,525,402 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $1,214,987,000 after buying an additional 171,693 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its position in Arch Capital Group by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 1,639,158 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $148,720,000 after purchasing an additional 16,798 shares during the period. 89.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Arch Capital Group Stock Down 1.0%

Shares of Arch Capital Group stock opened at $95.37 on Wednesday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $95.48 and a 200-day moving average of $95.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 0.55 and a quick ratio of 0.55. The company has a market capitalization of $33.32 billion, a PE ratio of 7.32, a P/E/G ratio of 5.30 and a beta of 0.35. Arch Capital Group Ltd. has a 1-year low of $82.44 and a 1-year high of $103.39.

Arch Capital Group (NASDAQ:ACGL - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, March 31st. The insurance provider reported $2.50 earnings per share for the quarter. The company had revenue of $4.52 billion during the quarter. Arch Capital Group had a return on equity of 17.61% and a net margin of 24.64%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Arch Capital Group Ltd. will post 9.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have commented on ACGL. Weiss Ratings lowered Arch Capital Group from a "buy (b)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a research report on Monday, May 18th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Arch Capital Group from $109.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Mizuho decreased their target price on Arch Capital Group from $102.00 to $101.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, May 5th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $100.00 target price (up from $97.00) on shares of Arch Capital Group in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. Finally, Citigroup upped their target price on Arch Capital Group from $120.00 to $122.50 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Eight 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 data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $106.32.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider David Gansberg sold 5,907 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $96.37, for a total transaction of $569,257.59. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 336,559 shares in the company, valued at $32,434,190.83. This trade represents a 1.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Nicolas Papadopoulo sold 21,930 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $96.31, for a total value of $2,112,078.30. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 871,594 shares of the company's stock, valued at $83,943,218.14. This represents a 2.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 32,837 shares of company stock valued at $2,766,946 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 3.30% 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.

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