Short Interest in James River Group Holdings, Ltd. (NASDAQ:JRVR) Expands By 39.1%

James River Group Holdings, Ltd. (NASDAQ:JRVR) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest in March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,920,000 shares, an increase of 39.1% from the February 28th total of 1,380,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 347,900 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 5.5 days. Currently, 5.7% of the company’s shares are sold short.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On James River Group

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of JRVR. Aquatic Capital Management LLC bought a new position in James River Group during the fourth quarter worth about $41,000. ProShare Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of James River Group during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $51,000. Quantbot Technologies LP boosted its holdings in James River Group by 24.8% in the 4th quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 12,556 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $61,000 after buying an additional 2,498 shares during the period. Intech Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in James River Group in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $68,000. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC raised its holdings in James River Group by 41.6% during the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 15,616 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $76,000 after acquiring an additional 4,586 shares during the period. 95.21% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

JRVR has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Citigroup reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of James River Group in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. JMP Securities lowered their price objective on shares of James River Group from $11.00 to $8.00 and set a “market outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their target price on shares of James River Group from $6.00 to $5.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. StockNews.com cut shares of James River Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Compass Point decreased their price target on shares of James River Group from $7.75 to $6.25 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $6.06.

James River Group Stock Down 2.5 %

Shares of James River Group stock traded down $0.11 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $4.25. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 136,426 shares, compared to its average volume of 368,574. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.65. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $4.51 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $5.17. The company has a market capitalization of $193.99 million, a P/E ratio of -1.05 and a beta of 0.04. James River Group has a one year low of $3.00 and a one year high of $9.56.

James River Group (NASDAQ:JRVR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, March 3rd. The insurance provider reported ($0.99) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.33) by ($0.66). James River Group had a positive return on equity of 3.90% and a negative net margin of 20.84%. The firm had revenue of $126.71 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $159.91 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.33 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that James River Group will post -0.35 earnings per share for the current year.

James River Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.01 per share. This represents a $0.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.94%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. James River Group’s payout ratio is -1.38%.

About James River Group

James River Group Holdings, Ltd., through its subsidiaries, provides specialty insurance services. It operates through Excess and Surplus Lines, and Specialty Admitted Insurance segments. The Excess and Surplus Lines segment underwrites liability and property insurance in the United States Puerto Rice, and the United States Virgin Islands.