Swiss National Bank Has $15.59 Million Stake in Axis Capital Holdings Limited $AXS

Swiss National Bank cut its position in Axis Capital Holdings Limited (NYSE:AXS) by 2.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 150,200 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 3,800 shares during the quarter. Swiss National Bank owned 0.19% of Axis Capital worth $15,594,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. IFP Advisors Inc increased its stake in Axis Capital by 1,542.9% in the first quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 575 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $58,000 after acquiring an additional 540 shares during the last quarter. Choreo LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Axis Capital by 10.3% in the 1st quarter. Choreo LLC now owns 2,732 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $275,000 after purchasing an additional 255 shares in the last quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. increased its stake in shares of Axis Capital by 6.6% in the 1st quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 3,280 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $329,000 after purchasing an additional 202 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers raised its holdings in shares of Axis Capital by 2.0% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 8,231 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $825,000 after buying an additional 161 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp lifted its position in shares of Axis Capital by 119.0% during the 1st quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 15,075 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,511,000 after buying an additional 8,190 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have issued reports on AXS. Wells Fargo & Company set a $123.00 target price on Axis Capital and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of Axis Capital in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $104.00 price target on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of Axis Capital from $119.00 to $121.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Axis Capital in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada began coverage on shares of Axis Capital in a research note on Monday. They set an “outperform” rating and a $125.00 target price on the stock. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Axis Capital currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $115.75.

Axis Capital Trading Up 2.0%

Shares of AXS stock opened at $102.15 on Thursday. Axis Capital Holdings Limited has a 1-year low of $83.90 and a 1-year high of $107.19. The company has a current ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The stock has a market cap of $7.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.44, a PEG ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 0.73. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $96.21 and a 200-day moving average of $98.14.

Axis Capital (NYSE:AXS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The insurance provider reported $3.25 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.72 by $0.53. Axis Capital had a return on equity of 19.25% and a net margin of 16.08%.The company had revenue of $1.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.33 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.71 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Axis Capital Holdings Limited will post 11.19 earnings per share for the current year.

Axis Capital Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 17th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 30th were paid a $0.44 dividend. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 30th. Axis Capital’s dividend payout ratio is currently 14.55%.

Axis Capital Company 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.