IFP Advisors Inc Raises Stake in Axis Capital Holdings Limited $AXS

IFP Advisors Inc raised its stake in Axis Capital Holdings Limited (NYSE:AXS) by 127.3% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,307 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 732 shares during the period. IFP Advisors Inc’s holdings in Axis Capital were worth $136,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AXS. Parallel Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Axis Capital by 34.0% in the second quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 1,021 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $106,000 after buying an additional 259 shares in the last quarter. Private Trust Co. NA increased its holdings in Axis Capital by 36.9% in the first quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 1,184 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $119,000 after buying an additional 319 shares in the last quarter. US Bancorp DE increased its holdings in Axis Capital by 34.3% in the first quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 1,628 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $163,000 after buying an additional 416 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in Axis Capital by 14.9% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,853 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $186,000 after buying an additional 240 shares in the last quarter. Finally, R Squared Ltd increased its holdings in Axis Capital by 119.8% in the first quarter. R Squared Ltd now owns 2,040 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $204,000 after buying an additional 1,112 shares in the last quarter. 93.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on AXS. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Axis Capital from $119.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b+)” rating on shares of Axis Capital in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on shares of Axis Capital from $118.00 to $121.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $123.00 price objective on shares of Axis Capital and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of Axis Capital in a research note on Tuesday. They set a “neutral” rating and a $104.00 price objective for the company. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $115.29.

Insider Activity at Axis Capital

In other Axis Capital news, insider Daniel J. Draper sold 4,305 shares of Axis Capital stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $97.57, for a total value of $420,038.85. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 16,269 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,587,366.33. The trade was a 20.92% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Henry B. Smith sold 3,500 shares of Axis Capital stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.67, for a total transaction of $345,345.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 47,295 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,666,597.65. The trade was a 6.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 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 owned by corporate insiders.

Axis Capital Stock Up 0.4%

AXS stock opened at $92.51 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.90, a PEG ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 0.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a current ratio of 0.69. Axis Capital Holdings Limited has a one year low of $77.21 and a one year high of $107.19. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $96.60 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $97.81.

Axis Capital (NYSE:AXS) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The insurance provider reported $3.29 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.88 by $0.41. The firm had revenue of $1.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.68 billion. Axis Capital had a net margin of 14.30% and a return on equity of 18.77%. Axis Capital’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.93 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Axis Capital Holdings Limited will post 11.19 EPS for the current year.

Axis Capital Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 17th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 30th were paid a $0.44 dividend. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 30th. Axis Capital’s payout ratio is presently 16.92%.

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.