Ategrity Specialty (NYSE:ASIC) Shares Gap Up After Strong Earnings

Ategrity Specialty (NYSE:ASIC) shares gapped up prior to trading on Friday following a better than expected earnings announcement. The stock had previously closed at $17.50, but opened at $19.22. Ategrity Specialty shares last traded at $20.18, with a volume of 49,615 shares trading hands.

The company reported $0.51 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.35 by $0.16. Ategrity Specialty had a net margin of 17.32% and a return on equity of 15.15%. The company had revenue of $123.34 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $111.45 million.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have commented on ASIC shares. Weiss Ratings began coverage on shares of Ategrity Specialty in a report on Wednesday, January 14th. They issued a “sell (d)” rating for the company. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Ategrity Specialty from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. Finally, Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $26.00 target price on shares of Ategrity Specialty in a research report on Friday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $25.50.

Institutional Trading of Ategrity Specialty

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ASIC. Strs Ohio lifted its stake in Ategrity Specialty by 54.5% in the fourth quarter. Strs Ohio now owns 1,700 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 600 shares during the last quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund bought a new stake in Ategrity Specialty in the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Police & Firemen s Retirement System of New Jersey purchased a new stake in Ategrity Specialty during the fourth quarter valued at about $41,000. State of Wyoming boosted its position in Ategrity Specialty by 1,663.6% during the fourth quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 2,469 shares of the company’s stock worth $52,000 after purchasing an additional 2,329 shares during the period. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company MN increased its stake in shares of Ategrity Specialty by 14.2% in the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 27,029 shares of the company’s stock worth $568,000 after purchasing an additional 3,363 shares in the last quarter.

Ategrity Specialty Stock Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $961.40 million and a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.99.

Ategrity Specialty Company Profile

We are a profitable and growing specialty insurance company dedicated to providing excess and surplus (“E&S”) products to small to medium-sized businesses (“SMBs”) across the United States. We have built a proprietary underwriting platform that combines sophisticated data analytics with automated and streamlined processes to efficiently serve our clients and deliver long-term value to our stockholders. The SMB market is characterized by large volumes of small-sized policies, and we believe our competitive edge lies in our ability to offer consistent, high-speed, and low-touch interactions that our distribution partners value.