Ibex Wealth Advisors Purchases 10,877 Shares of Axis Capital Holdings Limited $AXS

Ibex Wealth Advisors raised its position in shares of Axis Capital Holdings Limited (NYSE:AXS) by 26.5% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 51,927 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 10,877 shares during the period. Ibex Wealth Advisors’ holdings in Axis Capital were worth $5,391,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Axis Capital by 22.3% during the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 3,290,411 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $328,580,000 after buying an additional 600,901 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in Axis Capital by 95.1% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 1,852,398 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $185,685,000 after acquiring an additional 903,107 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in Axis Capital by 0.4% in the first quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,359,471 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $136,273,000 after acquiring an additional 4,793 shares during the period. Swedbank AB grew its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 216,357 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its position in Axis Capital by 12.1% during the 1st quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 925,265 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $92,749,000 after purchasing an additional 99,916 shares during the period. 93.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on AXS. Wells Fargo & Company set a $123.00 price target on shares of Axis Capital and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on Axis Capital in a research report on Tuesday, October 14th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $104.00 target price on the stock. Wall Street Zen downgraded Axis Capital from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, August 2nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective on Axis Capital from $125.00 to $119.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 4th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on Axis Capital from $119.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Axis Capital currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $115.00.

Axis Capital Stock Performance

Shares of AXS opened at $99.51 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The firm has a market cap of $7.67 billion, a PE ratio of 8.22, a P/E/G ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 0.73. Axis Capital Holdings Limited has a 12 month low of $82.92 and a 12 month high of $107.19. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $95.35 and a 200-day moving average price of $97.90.

Axis Capital (NYSE:AXS) last announced its 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 firm had revenue of $184.90 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.33 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.71 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Axis Capital Holdings Limited will post 11.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Axis Capital Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 17th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 30th were issued a dividend of $0.44 per share. 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 is 14.55%.

Insider Activity at Axis Capital

In related news, Director Henry B. Smith sold 3,500 shares of Axis Capital stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.67, for a total value of $345,345.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 47,295 shares in the company, valued at $4,666,597.65. This trade represents a 6.89% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Daniel J. Draper sold 4,305 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $97.57, for a total transaction of $420,038.85. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 16,269 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,587,366.33. This represents a 20.92% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 12,205 shares of company stock valued at $1,188,048 over the last ninety days. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.