Innealta Capital LLC Buys Shares of 2,816 Axis Capital Holdings Limited $AXS

Innealta Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Axis Capital Holdings Limited (NYSE:AXS) during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 2,816 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $292,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in Axis Capital by 2.8% during the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 314,372 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $31,513,000 after purchasing an additional 8,443 shares in the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Axis Capital in the first quarter valued at $271,000. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Axis Capital by 153.7% during the first quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 25,419 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,552,000 after acquiring an additional 15,399 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC raised its position in Axis Capital by 62.3% in the first quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 50,582 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $5,070,000 after acquiring an additional 19,424 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Croban acquired a new stake in Axis Capital in the 1st quarter valued at about $1,036,000. 93.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, 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 completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 16,269 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,587,366.33. This trade represents a 20.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Henry B. Smith sold 3,500 shares of Axis Capital stock in a transaction 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 sale, the director directly 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 position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 12,205 shares of company stock worth $1,188,048 over the last ninety days. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on AXS shares. 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. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Axis Capital from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 2nd. UBS Group upped their price target on Axis Capital from $119.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b+)” rating on shares of Axis Capital in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their target price on Axis Capital from $125.00 to $119.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $115.00.

Axis Capital Stock Up 0.8%

Shares of Axis Capital stock opened at $97.60 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. Axis Capital Holdings Limited has a 1 year low of $82.17 and a 1 year high of $107.19. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $95.33 and a 200 day moving average price of $97.81. The company has a market cap of $7.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.07, a P/E/G ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 0.73.

Axis Capital (NYSE:AXS) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The insurance provider reported $3.25 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.72 by $0.53. The company had revenue of $184.90 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.33 billion. Axis Capital had a return on equity of 19.25% and a net margin of 16.08%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.71 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Axis Capital Holdings Limited will post 11.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Axis Capital Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 17th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 30th were issued a dividend of $0.44 per share. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 30th. Axis Capital’s payout ratio is currently 14.55%.

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.