ProAssurance (NYSE:PRA) Raised to Strong-Buy at Zacks Research

ProAssurance (NYSE:PRA) was upgraded by Zacks Research from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report issued on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other research analysts have also commented on PRA. Wall Street Zen raised ProAssurance to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 22nd. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of ProAssurance in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, ProAssurance has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $25.00.

ProAssurance Price Performance

Shares of ProAssurance stock opened at $24.58 on Tuesday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $24.25 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $24.06. ProAssurance has a 12-month low of $14.49 and a 12-month high of $24.69. The firm has a market cap of $1.26 billion, a PE ratio of 25.08 and a beta of 0.09. The company has a quick ratio of 0.28, a current ratio of 0.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31.

ProAssurance (NYSE:PRA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 23rd. The insurance provider reported $0.82 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.22 by $0.60. The firm had revenue of $269.64 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $261.08 million. ProAssurance had a net margin of 4.64% and a return on equity of 6.50%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.36 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that ProAssurance will post 0.8 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in PRA. Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of ProAssurance by 356.2% during the second quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 1,405 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 1,097 shares in the last quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC boosted its stake in ProAssurance by 12,152.2% in the 3rd quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 2,818 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $68,000 after purchasing an additional 2,795 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in ProAssurance by 35.7% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,238 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $102,000 after purchasing an additional 1,115 shares during the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC increased its stake in ProAssurance by 271.2% during the 2nd quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 5,576 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $127,000 after purchasing an additional 4,074 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its stake in ProAssurance by 22.8% during the 2nd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 5,679 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $130,000 after purchasing an additional 1,056 shares in 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.