Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC Has $12.97 Million Position in Axis Capital Holdings Limited $AXS

Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Axis Capital Holdings Limited (NYSE:AXS) by 0.2% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 124,917 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 193 shares during the period. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC’s holdings in Axis Capital were worth $12,969,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in AXS. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC grew its holdings in Axis Capital by 2.2% during the 1st quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 6,694 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $671,000 after acquiring an additional 145 shares during the last quarter. Woodline Partners LP lifted its position in shares of Axis Capital by 68.7% during the first quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 370,054 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $37,094,000 after purchasing an additional 150,652 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of Axis Capital by 14.9% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,853 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $186,000 after purchasing an additional 240 shares during the last quarter. Kera Capital Partners Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Axis Capital in the second quarter valued at approximately $321,000. Finally, Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd bought a new position in Axis Capital in the 1st quarter worth approximately $620,000. 93.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have commented on AXS shares. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $119.00 price objective (up from $115.00) on shares of Axis Capital in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Wall Street Zen cut Axis Capital from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, August 2nd. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b+)” rating on shares of Axis Capital in a report on Saturday, September 27th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Axis Capital from $104.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target 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. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $111.43.

Axis Capital Stock Performance

Shares of AXS stock opened at $94.53 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $7.39 billion, a PE ratio of 9.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 0.73. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $96.43 and a 200-day moving average of $98.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.69. Axis Capital Holdings Limited has a one year low of $77.21 and a one year high of $107.19.

Axis Capital (NYSE:AXS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 29th. The insurance provider reported $3.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.93 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Axis Capital Holdings Limited will post 11.19 earnings per share for the current year.

Axis Capital Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 17th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 30th will be given a dividend of $0.44 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 30th. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.9%. Axis Capital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 16.92%.

Insider Activity

In other Axis Capital 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 transaction, the director owned 47,295 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,666,597.65. The trade was a 6.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Daniel J. Draper sold 4,305 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $1,587,366.33. This represents a 20.92% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 12,205 shares of company stock worth $1,188,048 in the last quarter. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.