AXIS Capital Holdings Limited (NYSE:AXS) Receives Average Rating of “Buy” from Analysts

AXIS Capital Holdings Limited (NYSE:AXS – Get Rating) has received an average recommendation of “Buy” from the six research firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, one has assigned a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $62.00.

AXS has been the topic of several recent research reports. StockNews.com downgraded shares of AXIS Capital from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, May 6th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of AXIS Capital from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 14th. Finally, Zacks Investment Research upgraded shares of AXIS Capital from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $66.00 target price for the company in a research note on Monday, January 17th.

AXS stock opened at $55.27 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $56.55 and its 200-day simple moving average is $54.93. The company has a market capitalization of $4.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 0.59 and a quick ratio of 0.59. AXIS Capital has a 12 month low of $44.49 and a 12 month high of $61.39.

AXIS Capital (NYSE:AXS – Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 27th. The insurance provider reported $2.09 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.65 by $0.44. The business had revenue of $1.81 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.92 billion. AXIS Capital had a net margin of 12.09% and a return on equity of 11.84%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.97 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that AXIS Capital will post 6.18 earnings per share for the current year.

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, June 30th will be paid a $0.43 dividend. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.11%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 29th. AXIS Capital’s dividend payout ratio is currently 23.92%.

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. US Bancorp DE raised its position in AXIS Capital by 447.2% during the first quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 487 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 398 shares during the period. Lazard Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in AXIS Capital during the first quarter worth $33,000. Atlas Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in AXIS Capital during the first quarter worth $93,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. acquired a new position in AXIS Capital during the first quarter worth $135,000. Finally, Outfitter Financial LLC acquired a new position in AXIS Capital during the fourth quarter worth $155,000. Institutional investors own 93.67% of the company’s stock.

About AXIS Capital (Get Rating)

AXIS Capital Holdings Limited, through its subsidiaries, provides various specialty insurance and reinsurance products worldwide. It operates through two segments, Insurance and Reinsurance. The Insurance segment offers property insurance products for commercial buildings, residential premises, construction projects, and onshore energy installations; marine insurance products covering offshore energy, cargo, liability, recreational marine, fine art, specie, and hull war; and terrorism, aviation, credit and political risk, and liability insurance products.

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