AXIS Capital (NYSE:AXS) Lifted to Buy at StockNews.com

AXIS Capital (NYSE:AXS – Get Rating) was upgraded by stock analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report issued on Monday.

A number of other research analysts have also recently issued reports on AXS. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut AXIS Capital from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $63.00 to $60.00 in a research note on Sunday, December 18th. TheStreet upgraded AXIS Capital from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research report on Monday, November 28th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company downgraded AXIS Capital from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $55.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Friday, December 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $60.50.

AXIS Capital Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE:AXS opened at $60.58 on Monday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $59.07 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $55.58. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.92, a PEG ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 0.81. AXIS Capital has a 12-month low of $48.32 and a 12-month high of $63.99. The company has a current ratio of 0.57, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35.

AXIS Capital (NYSE:AXS – Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 26th. The insurance provider reported $1.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.70 by $0.25. The business had revenue of $1.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.06 billion. AXIS Capital had a return on equity of 12.72% and a net margin of 4.34%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 15.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.13 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that AXIS Capital will post 7.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. US Bancorp DE lifted its holdings 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 buying an additional 398 shares during the period. Horizon Bancorp Inc. IN purchased a new stake in AXIS Capital during the fourth quarter worth $33,000. Lazard Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in AXIS Capital during the first quarter worth $33,000. Quent Capital LLC lifted its holdings in AXIS Capital by 97.5% during the fourth quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 636 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 314 shares during the period. Finally, Meeder Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in AXIS Capital by 125.2% during the second quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 804 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $45,000 after buying an additional 447 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.89% of the company’s stock.

About AXIS Capital

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AXIS Capital Holdings Ltd. engages in the provision of various insurance, and reinsurance products and services. It operates through the Insurance and Reinsurance segments. The Insurance segment offers property, marine, terrorism, aviation, political risk, professional lines, liability, and accident, and health insurance products.