Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC Has $591,000 Position in Axis Capital Holdings Limited $AXS

Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC grew its stake in Axis Capital Holdings Limited (NYSE:AXS) by 107.7% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 6,067 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 3,146 shares during the quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC’s holdings in Axis Capital were worth $591,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. IFP Advisors Inc boosted its position in Axis Capital by 1,542.9% during the 1st quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 575 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $58,000 after buying an additional 540 shares during the period. Parallel Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Axis Capital by 34.0% in the 2nd quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 1,021 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $106,000 after acquiring an additional 259 shares in the last quarter. Private Trust Co. NA increased its stake in Axis Capital by 36.9% during the 1st quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 1,184 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $119,000 after purchasing an additional 319 shares in the last quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System bought a new stake in Axis Capital during the 2nd quarter valued at $126,000. Finally, US Bancorp DE increased its stake in Axis Capital by 34.3% during the 1st quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 1,628 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $163,000 after purchasing an additional 416 shares in the last quarter. 93.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently issued reports on AXS. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of Axis Capital in a research note on Tuesday, October 14th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $104.00 target price for the company. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Axis Capital from $119.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Axis Capital from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, August 2nd. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b+)” rating on shares of Axis Capital in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company set a $123.00 price target on Axis Capital and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $115.29.

Axis Capital Stock Performance

Shares of AXS stock opened at $91.95 on Wednesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $96.42 and a 200 day moving average of $97.77. Axis Capital Holdings Limited has a 52 week low of $77.21 and a 52 week high of $107.19. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.84, a PEG ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 0.73. The company has a quick ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26.

Axis Capital (NYSE:AXS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The insurance provider reported $3.29 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.88 by $0.41. The company had revenue of $1.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.68 billion. Axis Capital had a return on equity of 18.77% and a net margin of 14.30%.The firm’s revenue was up 12.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.93 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect 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. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 30th were given a dividend of $0.44 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 30th. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. Axis Capital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 16.92%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Axis Capital

In other Axis Capital news, Director Henry B. Smith sold 3,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.67, for a total transaction of $345,345.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 47,295 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,666,597.65. This trade represents a 6.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Daniel J. Draper sold 4,305 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $97.57, for a total value of $420,038.85. Following the transaction, the insider owned 16,269 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,587,366.33. The trade was a 20.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 12,205 shares of company stock valued at $1,188,048 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

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.