Axis Capital Holdings Limited (NYSE:AXS) Stock Has Consensus Target Price of $119.08

Axis Capital Holdings Limited (NYSE:AXS) has received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the thirteen brokerages that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, eight have given a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $119.08.

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective on shares of Axis Capital from $131.00 to $125.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, August 4th. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Axis Capital from $131.00 to $126.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Axis Capital from $126.00 to $112.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 12th. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $130.00 target price on shares of Axis Capital in a report on Tuesday, August 25th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of Axis Capital from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, October 9th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Axis Capital

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in Axis Capital by 8.9% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,682,238 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $373,412,000 after acquiring an additional 299,573 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its stake in Axis Capital by 31.4% during the 1st quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 979,944 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $99,376,000 after purchasing an additional 234,353 shares during the period. Swedbank AB lifted its holdings in Axis Capital by 14.0% in the 1st quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 1,362,091 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $138,130,000 after purchasing an additional 167,337 shares in the last quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP lifted its holdings in Axis Capital by 64.0% in the 1st quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 318,539 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $32,303,000 after purchasing an additional 124,317 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of Nova Scotia lifted its holdings in Axis Capital by 65.5% in the 1st quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 183,169 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $18,575,000 after purchasing an additional 72,465 shares in the last quarter. 93.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Axis Capital Stock Down 1.5%

AXS stock opened at $102.71 on Friday. Axis Capital has a fifty-two week low of $88.07 and a fifty-two week high of $119.99. The business’s 50-day moving average is $98.45 and its two-hundred day moving average is $101.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 0.64 and a current ratio of 0.64. The company has a market cap of $7.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.29, a P/E/G ratio of 3.52 and a beta of 0.45.

Axis Capital (NYSE:AXS) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The insurance provider reported $2.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.25 by ($0.41). Axis Capital had a return on equity of 17.00% and a net margin of 16.23%. The firm had revenue of $1.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.74 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $3.29 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Axis Capital will post 12.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Axis Capital Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 30th were given a dividend of $0.44 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, September 30th. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.7%. Axis Capital’s payout ratio is presently 12.50%.

About Axis Capital

Axis Capital Holdings Limited (NYSE: AXS) is a Bermuda-based specialty insurance and reinsurance company. Through its operating subsidiaries, the company provides coverage and risk-management solutions for businesses, institutions and other insurers facing complex or difficult-to-place risks.

AXIS offers a range of commercial property and casualty insurance products, including professional liability, cyber, marine, aviation, energy, environmental, political risk, credit and surety, and accident and health coverage.