Dimensional Fund Advisors LP Raises Stake in Axis Capital Holdings Limited $AXS

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in Axis Capital Holdings Limited (NYSE:AXS) by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,318,914 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 74,567 shares during the quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP owned approximately 4.31% of Axis Capital worth $317,945,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Cresset Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Axis Capital in the third quarter valued at approximately $229,000. 111 Capital purchased a new stake in Axis Capital in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $354,000. Quantbot Technologies LP bought a new position in Axis Capital in the 3rd quarter valued at $3,007,000. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Axis Capital during the 3rd quarter valued at $70,000. Finally, Handelsbanken Fonder AB increased its holdings in shares of Axis Capital by 37.0% in the third quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 25,200 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,414,000 after purchasing an additional 6,800 shares during the period. 93.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AXS has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Weiss Ratings lowered Axis Capital from a “buy (a-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on Axis Capital from $124.00 to $121.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Bank of America cut their price objective on Axis Capital from $119.00 to $115.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Roth Mkm reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $120.00 target price on shares of Axis Capital in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Axis Capital in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Axis Capital presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $124.00.

Axis Capital Stock Down 0.4%

Shares of AXS opened at $103.46 on Friday. Axis Capital Holdings Limited has a 1 year low of $84.81 and a 1 year high of $110.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.67. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $103.74 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $100.18. The firm has a market cap of $7.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.35, a P/E/G ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 0.61.

Axis Capital (NYSE:AXS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 28th. The insurance provider reported $3.25 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.97 by $0.28. Axis Capital had a net margin of 15.37% and a return on equity of 18.72%. The firm had revenue of $1.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.33 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $3.38 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 17.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Axis Capital Holdings Limited will post 11.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Axis Capital Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.44 per share. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 31st. Axis Capital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 14.21%.

Axis Capital Profile

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.