Axis Capital Holdings Limited $AXS Shares Bought by Employees Retirement System of Texas

Employees Retirement System of Texas grew its holdings in Axis Capital Holdings Limited (NYSE:AXS) by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 50,261 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 598 shares during the quarter. Employees Retirement System of Texas owned 0.06% of Axis Capital worth $5,218,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on AXS shares. Wells Fargo & Company set a $123.00 target price on Axis Capital and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Royal Bank Of Canada started coverage on Axis Capital in a report on Monday. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $125.00 price objective on the stock. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Axis Capital in a report on Tuesday. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Axis Capital from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, August 2nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of Axis Capital in a research report on Tuesday, October 14th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $104.00 price target for the company. 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 data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $115.75.

Axis Capital Stock Up 2.0%

Axis Capital stock opened at $102.15 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $96.21 and its 200 day moving average price is $98.14. The company has a quick ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The firm has a market cap of $7.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 0.73. Axis Capital Holdings Limited has a 52 week low of $83.90 and a 52 week high of $107.19.

Axis Capital (NYSE:AXS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The insurance provider reported $3.25 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.72 by $0.53. The business had revenue of $1.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.33 billion. Axis Capital had a return on equity of 19.25% and a net margin of 16.08%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.71 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Axis Capital Holdings Limited will post 11.19 earnings per share for the current year.

Axis Capital Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 17th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 30th were given a dividend of $0.44 per share. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.7%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 30th. Axis Capital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 14.55%.

About Axis Capital

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.