California State Teachers Retirement System Lowers Position in AXIS Capital Holdings Limited (NYSE:AXS)

California State Teachers Retirement System decreased its holdings in shares of AXIS Capital Holdings Limited (NYSE:AXS) by 1.8% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 74,572 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 1,359 shares during the period. California State Teachers Retirement System’s holdings in AXIS Capital were worth $6,609,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in AXS. Barclays PLC lifted its position in shares of AXIS Capital by 53.6% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 48,964 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $3,898,000 after buying an additional 17,082 shares in the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC lifted its position in shares of AXIS Capital by 3.8% during the 4th quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 6,549 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $580,000 after buying an additional 239 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its position in shares of AXIS Capital by 38.0% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,679 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $149,000 after buying an additional 462 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV lifted its position in shares of AXIS Capital by 74.6% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 3,668 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $325,000 after buying an additional 1,567 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. lifted its position in shares of AXIS Capital by 40.1% during the 4th quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 81,770 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $7,246,000 after buying an additional 23,394 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.44% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other AXIS Capital news, Director Charles A. Davis sold 2,139,037 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.50, for a total value of $199,999,959.50. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 2,404,133 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $224,786,435.50. This trade represents a 47.08% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on AXS. JMP Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of AXIS Capital in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Wall Street Zen upgraded AXIS Capital from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, April 12th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on AXIS Capital from $100.00 to $104.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on AXIS Capital from $114.00 to $118.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on AXIS Capital from $116.00 to $119.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 11th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, AXIS Capital has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $107.75.

AXIS Capital Trading Up 1.3%

Shares of AXS stock opened at $103.90 on Monday. AXIS Capital Holdings Limited has a fifty-two week low of $68.02 and a fifty-two week high of $104.16. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.41, a PEG ratio of 3.96 and a beta of 0.82. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $97.65 and its two-hundred day moving average is $93.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a current ratio of 0.60.

AXIS Capital (NYSE:AXS) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The insurance provider reported $3.17 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.64 by $0.53. AXIS Capital had a return on equity of 18.89% and a net margin of 18.16%. The business had revenue of $1.52 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.83 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.07 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that AXIS Capital Holdings Limited will post 11.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AXIS Capital Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 30th will be paid a $0.44 dividend. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.69%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 30th. AXIS Capital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 17.46%.

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.