Creative Planning Increases Stock Holdings in Axis Capital Holdings Limited $AXS

Creative Planning increased its stake in shares of Axis Capital Holdings Limited (NYSE:AXS) by 64.8% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 21,557 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 8,480 shares during the quarter. Creative Planning’s holdings in Axis Capital were worth $2,238,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Axis Capital by 22.3% during the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 3,290,411 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $328,580,000 after purchasing an additional 600,901 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in Axis Capital by 95.1% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 1,852,398 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $185,685,000 after buying an additional 903,107 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB lifted its position in shares of Axis Capital by 28.9% during the 2nd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 964,260 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $100,109,000 after buying an additional 216,357 shares in the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted its position in shares of Axis Capital by 12.1% during the 1st quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 925,265 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $92,749,000 after buying an additional 99,916 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allianz Asset Management GmbH boosted its stake in shares of Axis Capital by 174.6% in the 2nd quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 744,842 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $77,329,000 after buying an additional 473,608 shares during the last quarter. 93.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on Axis Capital from $119.00 to $121.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on Axis Capital in a research note on Tuesday, October 14th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $104.00 price objective for the company. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Axis Capital in a research note on Wednesday, November 19th. Royal Bank Of Canada began coverage on shares of Axis Capital in a report on Monday. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $125.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Axis Capital from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 2nd. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $117.00.

Axis Capital Stock Performance

NYSE:AXS opened at $100.08 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $7.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.27, a P/E/G ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 0.73. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $96.07 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $98.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.69. Axis Capital Holdings Limited has a 1 year low of $83.90 and a 1 year high of $107.19.

Axis Capital (NYSE:AXS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The insurance provider reported $3.25 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.72 by $0.53. Axis Capital had a return on equity of 19.25% and a net margin of 16.08%.The company had revenue of $1.67 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.33 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.71 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Axis Capital Holdings Limited will post 11.19 earnings per share for the current year.

Axis Capital Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 17th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 30th were paid a $0.44 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 30th. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.8%. Axis Capital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 14.55%.

About Axis Capital

AXIS Capital Holdings Limited, through its subsidiaries, provides various specialty insurance and reinsurance products in Bermuda, the United States, and internationally. It operates through two segments, Insurance and Reinsurance. The Insurance segment offers professional insurance products that cover directors' and officers' liability, errors and omissions, employment practices, fiduciary, crime, professional indemnity, medical malpractice, and other financial insurance related coverages for commercial enterprises, financial institutions, not-for-profit organizations, and other professional service providers; and property insurance products for commercial buildings, residential premises, construction projects, property in transit, onshore renewable energy installations, and physical damage and business interruption following an act of terrorism.