Short Interest in ProAssurance Co. (NYSE:PRA) Grows By 26.4%

ProAssurance Co. (NYSE:PRA) was the target of a large increase in short interest in March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 629,700 shares, an increase of 26.4% from the February 28th total of 498,300 shares. Approximately 1.3% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 593,200 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.1 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On ProAssurance

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of PRA. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in shares of ProAssurance by 3.0% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,164,085 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $47,588,000 after acquiring an additional 91,987 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in ProAssurance by 4.8% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,703,953 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $43,019,000 after purchasing an additional 123,232 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of ProAssurance by 1.8% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,968,754 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $29,610,000 after buying an additional 34,247 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its position in shares of ProAssurance by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,316,249 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $20,678,000 after buying an additional 4,814 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its stake in shares of ProAssurance by 92.1% in the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 690,871 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $10,992,000 after buying an additional 331,224 shares in the last quarter. 85.58% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, StockNews.com began coverage on ProAssurance in a research note on Tuesday. They issued a “hold” rating for the company.

ProAssurance Price Performance

Shares of NYSE PRA opened at $23.37 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 0.28 and a current ratio of 0.28. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $16.73 and a 200 day moving average of $15.97. The firm has a market cap of $1.20 billion, a PE ratio of 28.16 and a beta of 0.21. ProAssurance has a one year low of $10.76 and a one year high of $23.48.

ProAssurance (NYSE:PRA) last released its earnings results on Monday, February 24th. The insurance provider reported $0.36 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 analysts’ expectations of $274.56 million. As a group, research analysts predict that ProAssurance will post 0.8 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About ProAssurance

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.