Point72 Hong Kong Ltd Raises Position in AXIS Capital Holdings Limited (NYSE:AXS)

Point72 Hong Kong Ltd grew its holdings in shares of AXIS Capital Holdings Limited (NYSE:AXS) by 2,079.6% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 14,429 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 13,767 shares during the quarter. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd’s holdings in AXIS Capital were worth $1,279,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of AXIS Capital by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,144,247 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $367,265,000 after purchasing an additional 17,764 shares during the period. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of AXIS Capital by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,444,128 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $305,219,000 after purchasing an additional 12,571 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its stake in shares of AXIS Capital by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 3,178,512 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $281,680,000 after purchasing an additional 53,514 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of AXIS Capital by 5.3% during the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,689,510 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $238,344,000 after purchasing an additional 134,157 shares during the period. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its stake in shares of AXIS Capital by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 2,042,925 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $181,045,000 after purchasing an additional 20,976 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.44% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have weighed in on AXS. Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of AXIS Capital in a research note on Wednesday. UBS Group increased their target price on AXIS Capital from $105.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on AXIS Capital from $114.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. StockNews.com raised AXIS Capital from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, April 12th. Finally, JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of AXIS Capital in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $107.75.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Charles A. Davis sold 2,139,037 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.50, for a total transaction of $199,999,959.50. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 2,404,133 shares in the company, valued at $224,786,435.50. This trade represents a 47.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

AXIS Capital Stock Up 2.3%

Shares of NYSE AXS opened at $100.95 on Friday. AXIS Capital Holdings Limited has a 12-month low of $68.02 and a 12-month high of $102.36. The company has a market cap of $7.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.17, a P/E/G ratio of 3.96 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a current ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $96.05 and a 200 day moving average price of $91.77.

AXIS Capital (NYSE:AXS) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The insurance provider reported $3.17 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.64 by $0.53. The company had revenue of $1.52 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.83 billion. AXIS Capital had a return on equity of 18.89% and a net margin of 18.16%. The company’s revenue was up 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.07 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that AXIS Capital Holdings Limited will post 11.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AXIS Capital Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st were paid a dividend of $0.44 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 31st. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.74%. AXIS Capital’s dividend payout ratio is presently 17.46%.

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.