ProAssurance (NYSE:PRA) Hits New 52-Week High – Time to Buy?

ProAssurance Corporation (NYSE:PRA) reached a new 52-week high during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $24.80 and last traded at $24.7860, with a volume of 438204 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $24.64.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PRA has been the subject of several research reports. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of ProAssurance from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 28th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of ProAssurance in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, Zacks Research raised ProAssurance from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, ProAssurance presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $25.00.

ProAssurance Stock Performance

The company has a current ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.22 and a beta of 0.04. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $24.42 and a 200-day moving average of $24.15.

ProAssurance (NYSE:PRA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 23rd. The insurance provider reported $0.82 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.22 by $0.60. ProAssurance had a return on equity of 6.50% and a net margin of 4.64%.The company had revenue of $269.64 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $261.08 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.36 earnings per share. ProAssurance’s quarterly revenue was down 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that ProAssurance Corporation will post 0.8 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of ProAssurance

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Hsbc Holdings PLC boosted its stake in ProAssurance by 7.7% in the fourth quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 1,047,160 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $25,289,000 after acquiring an additional 74,870 shares in the last quarter. XTX Topco Ltd purchased a new stake in ProAssurance in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $853,000. Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of ProAssurance in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,716,000. Millennium Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of ProAssurance by 7.1% in the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 768,948 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $18,578,000 after acquiring an additional 51,153 shares during the period. Finally, Man Group plc raised its position in ProAssurance by 4.8% in the 4th quarter. Man Group plc now owns 745,369 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $18,008,000 after purchasing an additional 34,315 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.58% of the company’s stock.

About ProAssurance

ProAssurance Corporation is a specialty property and casualty insurance holding company headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama. The company focuses primarily on professional liability coverage for healthcare providers, including physicians, surgeons, dentists and allied health professionals. ProAssurance operates through a group of insurance subsidiaries that underwrite both occurrence- and claims-made policies tailored to the unique risks faced by the medical community.

In addition to professional liability insurance, ProAssurance offers a suite of complementary property and casualty products, such as general liability, workers’ compensation, property and inland marine, and umbrella coverage.