Sterling Capital Management LLC Purchases 308,710 Shares of Axon Enterprise, Inc $AXON

Sterling Capital Management LLC increased its position in Axon Enterprise, Inc (NASDAQ:AXON) by 4,478.6% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 315,603 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after buying an additional 308,710 shares during the quarter. Axon Enterprise makes up approximately 2.7% of Sterling Capital Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest holding. Sterling Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Axon Enterprise were worth $133,349,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Keel Point LLC increased its position in Axon Enterprise by 4.4% during the first quarter. Keel Point LLC now owns 599 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $254,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Bridgewater Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Axon Enterprise by 4.4% in the second quarter. Bridgewater Advisors Inc. now owns 616 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $352,000 after buying an additional 26 shares during the period. Roman Butler Fullerton & Co. lifted its position in shares of Axon Enterprise by 2.4% in the first quarter. Roman Butler Fullerton & Co. now owns 1,278 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $500,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. 44 Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Axon Enterprise by 6.0% in the first quarter. 44 Wealth Management LLC now owns 530 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $225,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Owl Creek Wealth Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Axon Enterprise by 84.8% in the second quarter. Owl Creek Wealth Partners LLC now owns 85 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $48,000 after buying an additional 39 shares during the last quarter. 79.08% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Axon Enterprise

In related news, insider Jeffrey C. Kunins sold 9,605 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $626.70, for a total transaction of $6,019,453.50. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 97,761 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $61,266,818.70. This trade represents a 8.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Isaiah Fields sold 1,017 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $480.45, for a total transaction of $488,617.65. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 56,264 shares in the company, valued at approximately $27,032,038.80. This represents a 1.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 47,397 shares of company stock worth $26,722,984 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 4.20% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently commented on AXON. TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Axon Enterprise in a research note on Tuesday, October 13th. UBS Group increased their price target on Axon Enterprise from $440.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Axon Enterprise from $600.00 to $640.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Axon Enterprise in a research report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Axon Enterprise from $523.00 to $688.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $689.94.

Axon Enterprise Stock Performance

NASDAQ:AXON traded up $5.77 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $420.37. 844,988 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,031,962. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $480.64 and its 200 day simple moving average is $473.90. The stock has a market capitalization of $34.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 174.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 7.88 and a beta of 1.44. Axon Enterprise, Inc has a fifty-two week low of $339.01 and a fifty-two week high of $764.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 1.80 and a current ratio of 2.15.

Axon Enterprise (NASDAQ:AXON) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The biotechnology company reported $1.88 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.84 by $0.04. Axon Enterprise had a return on equity of 2.84% and a net margin of 6.19%. The firm had revenue of $904.39 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $876.42 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.12 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 35.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Axon Enterprise, Inc will post 2.10 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Axon Enterprise Profile

Axon Enterprise, Inc develops technology and connected products for public safety organizations. The company’s portfolio includes TASER conducted-energy weapons, body-worn cameras, in-car cameras, and related hardware designed to support law enforcement, corrections, security, and other emergency-response professionals.

Axon also provides cloud-based software for managing digital evidence, records, workflows, real-time operations, investigations, and communications. Its platform is intended to connect hardware, software, and services across the public-safety ecosystem, helping agencies collect, store, analyze, and share operational information.

The company was founded in 1993 as TASER International by Rick Smith and Tom Smith and adopted the name Axon Enterprise in 2017 as it expanded beyond conducted-energy weapons into a broader technology platform.