Axis Capital Holdings Limited (NYSE:AXS) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Axis Capital Holdings Limited (NYSE:AXS) has been given an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the ten ratings firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and eight have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $122.10.

AXS has been the subject of several analyst reports. Mizuho set a $137.00 price target on shares of Axis Capital in a report on Monday, May 4th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Axis Capital from $123.00 to $119.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Axis Capital from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 4th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on shares of Axis Capital from $130.00 to $126.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 7th. Finally, Bank of America dropped their price target on shares of Axis Capital from $115.00 to $106.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 14th.

Axis Capital Stock Up 0.0%

Shares of NYSE AXS opened at $101.47 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. The company has a market cap of $7.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.56, a PEG ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 0.51. Axis Capital has a 12 month low of $88.07 and a 12 month high of $110.34. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $99.32 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $101.79.

Axis Capital (NYSE:AXS) last released 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. Axis Capital had a return on equity of 18.12% and a net margin of 16.00%.The company had revenue of $1.64 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.72 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.17 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 8.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Axis Capital will post 13.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Axis Capital Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 30th will be given a $0.44 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 30th. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.7%. Axis Capital’s payout ratio is 13.11%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Henry B. Smith sold 2,542 shares of the business’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 transaction, the director owned 46,347 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,573,985.43. The trade was a 5.20% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Axis Capital

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of AXS. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Axis Capital by 30.9% during the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 4,592,270 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $491,786,000 after buying an additional 1,083,579 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Axis Capital during the 4th quarter worth approximately $103,001,000. Freestone Grove Partners LP acquired a new stake in shares of Axis Capital during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $56,705,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its position in shares of Axis Capital by 147.0% during the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 745,591 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $79,845,000 after buying an additional 443,761 shares during the period. Finally, Millennium Management LLC grew its position in shares of Axis Capital by 374.7% during the 3rd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 553,565 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $53,032,000 after buying an additional 436,944 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.44% of the company’s stock.

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.