Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership Buys 234,353 Shares of Axis Capital Holdings Limited $AXS

Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its stake in shares of Axis Capital Holdings Limited (NYSE:AXS) by 31.4% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 979,944 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 234,353 shares during the quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership’s holdings in Axis Capital were worth $99,376,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of AXS. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in Axis Capital by 30.9% in the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 4,592,270 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $491,786,000 after purchasing an additional 1,083,579 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of Axis Capital by 8.9% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,682,238 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $373,412,000 after buying an additional 299,573 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Axis Capital by 1.0% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,631,198 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $170,069,000 after buying an additional 15,755 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Axis Capital by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,387,004 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $148,565,000 after buying an additional 10,246 shares during the period. Finally, Allianz Asset Management GmbH grew its position in Axis Capital by 41.2% during the fourth quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 1,370,479 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $146,765,000 after buying an additional 400,068 shares in the last quarter. 93.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on AXS. Bank of America lowered their price target on Axis Capital from $115.00 to $106.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 14th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Axis Capital from $119.00 to $134.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 9th. Mizuho boosted their price objective on Axis Capital from $137.00 to $142.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Axis Capital from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. Finally, Atlantic Securities set a $122.00 target price on Axis Capital in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Axis Capital presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $124.45.

Insider Activity at Axis Capital

In related news, Director Henry B. Smith sold 2,542 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.69, for a total value of $250,869.98. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 46,347 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,573,985.43. This trade represents a 5.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Axis Capital Price Performance

NYSE:AXS opened at $116.45 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. The firm has a market cap of $8.58 billion, a PE ratio of 8.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.40 and a beta of 0.49. Axis Capital Holdings Limited has a 12 month low of $88.07 and a 12 month high of $116.95. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $105.19 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $102.95.

Axis Capital (NYSE:AXS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The insurance provider reported $3.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.33 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $1.64 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.72 billion. Axis Capital had a return on equity of 18.12% and a net margin of 16.00%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.17 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Axis Capital Holdings Limited will post 13.23 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Axis Capital Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 30th were paid a dividend of $0.44 per share. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 30th. Axis Capital’s dividend payout ratio is 13.11%.

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.