ProAssurance Co. (NYSE:PRA) Short Interest Up 100.9% in April

ProAssurance Co. (NYSE:PRA - Get Free Report) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in the month of April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,830,000 shares, a growth of 100.9% from the March 31st total of 911,100 shares. Approximately 3.6% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 848,400 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.2 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On ProAssurance

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Mariner LLC raised its stake in shares of ProAssurance by 4.2% in the 4th quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 17,007 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $271,000 after acquiring an additional 688 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of ProAssurance by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 28,991 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $461,000 after acquiring an additional 1,127 shares during the period. Rhumbline Advisers boosted its holdings in shares of ProAssurance by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 160,707 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $2,557,000 after acquiring an additional 1,281 shares during the period. Sterling Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of ProAssurance by 859.4% during the fourth quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 1,631 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 1,461 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC raised 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. 85.58% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

ProAssurance Stock Performance

Shares of PRA remained flat at $23.10 during mid-day trading on Monday. The stock had a trading volume of 588,648 shares, compared to its average volume of 423,293. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $20.06 and a 200-day simple moving average of $17.21. The stock has a market cap of $1.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.83 and a beta of -0.09. The company has a current ratio of 0.28, a quick ratio of 0.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. ProAssurance has a twelve month low of $10.76 and a twelve month high of $23.70.

ProAssurance (NYSE:PRA - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 24th. The insurance provider reported $0.36 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.17 by $0.19. ProAssurance had a net margin of 3.71% and a return on equity of 2.65%. The business had revenue of $287.52 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $274.56 million. On average, sell-side analysts predict that ProAssurance will post 0.8 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently issued reports on PRA. Citigroup lowered shares of ProAssurance to a "market perform" rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Citizens Jmp downgraded shares of ProAssurance from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Raymond James lowered ProAssurance from a "market perform" rating to an "underperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Finally, StockNews.com started coverage on ProAssurance in a research report on Friday. They set a "hold" rating for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, ProAssurance has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $18.67.

ProAssurance Company Profile

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.

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