AXIS Capital Holdings Limited (NYSE:AXS) Receives Average Recommendation of “Hold” from Brokerages

Shares of AXIS Capital Holdings Limited (NYSE:AXS) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the five research firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $69.33.

AXS has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of AXIS Capital from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 10th. StockNews.com raised shares of AXIS Capital from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $86.00 price target on shares of AXIS Capital in a research report on Monday.

AXIS Capital Trading Up 1.7 %

Shares of NYSE AXS opened at $70.82 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.62. AXIS Capital has a 52-week low of $52.02 and a 52-week high of $74.05. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $67.94 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $62.31. The stock has a market cap of $6.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.25 and a beta of 0.89.

AXIS Capital (NYSE:AXS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The insurance provider reported $2.57 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.40 by $0.17. AXIS Capital had a net margin of 10.34% and a return on equity of 19.11%. The company had revenue of $1.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.49 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.33 earnings per share. AXIS Capital’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that AXIS Capital will post 10.11 EPS for the current year.

AXIS Capital Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 18th. Investors of record on Friday, June 28th will be paid a $0.44 dividend. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 28th. AXIS Capital’s payout ratio is 26.91%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director W Marston Becker acquired 3,025 shares of AXIS Capital stock in a transaction on Monday, May 6th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $66.58 per share, with a total value of $201,404.50. Following the transaction, the director now owns 21,821 shares in the company, valued at $1,452,842.18. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other AXIS Capital news, Director W Marston Becker bought 3,025 shares of AXIS Capital stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 6th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $66.58 per share, with a total value of $201,404.50. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 21,821 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,452,842.18. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Michael Millegan bought 1,400 shares of AXIS Capital stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 21st. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $71.49 per share, for a total transaction of $100,086.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 9,016 shares in the company, valued at $644,553.84. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have bought a total of 6,425 shares of company stock valued at $444,351 over the last three months. 0.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AXIS Capital

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. UBS Group AG increased its position in AXIS Capital by 165.7% in the third quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 168,214 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $9,482,000 after purchasing an additional 104,915 shares during the last quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of AXIS Capital during the third quarter valued at $341,000. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of AXIS Capital by 43.2% during the third quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 60,866 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $3,431,000 after purchasing an additional 18,360 shares during the period. CI Investments Inc. boosted its stake in shares of AXIS Capital by 2,642.2% during the third quarter. CI Investments Inc. now owns 2,989 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $168,000 after purchasing an additional 2,880 shares during the period. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC purchased a new stake in shares of AXIS Capital during the third quarter valued at $5,767,000. Institutional investors 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.