Axis Capital Holdings Limited $AXS Shares Bought by Qsemble Capital Management LP

Qsemble Capital Management LP boosted its holdings in shares of Axis Capital Holdings Limited (NYSE:AXS) by 258.4% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 37,672 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 27,160 shares during the period. Qsemble Capital Management LP’s holdings in Axis Capital were worth $4,034,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AXS. Royal Bank of Canada lifted its holdings in Axis Capital by 12.4% during the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 63,457 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $6,361,000 after buying an additional 7,023 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Axis Capital by 6.6% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 205,553 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $20,605,000 after buying an additional 12,680 shares in the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC lifted its holdings in Axis Capital by 86.2% during the 1st quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 47,277 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $4,739,000 after buying an additional 21,892 shares in the last quarter. Focus Partners Wealth lifted its holdings in Axis Capital by 42.1% during the 1st quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 10,417 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,044,000 after buying an additional 3,085 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sivia Capital Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Axis Capital by 33.6% during the 2nd quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 3,924 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $407,000 after buying an additional 987 shares in the last quarter. 93.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Axis Capital

In other Axis Capital news, Director Henry B. Smith sold 2,542 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.69, for a total transaction of $250,869.98. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 46,347 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,573,985.43. This trade represents a 5.20% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AXS has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $122.00 price objective on shares of Axis Capital in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Mizuho set a $137.00 price objective on shares of Axis Capital in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Axis Capital from $125.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Roth Mkm reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $120.00 price objective on shares of Axis Capital in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on shares of Axis Capital from $130.00 to $126.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 7th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $122.10.

Axis Capital Trading Up 1.3%

Shares of Axis Capital stock opened at $98.99 on Friday. Axis Capital Holdings Limited has a 1 year low of $88.07 and a 1 year high of $110.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.65. The company has a market capitalization of $7.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.38, a PEG ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 0.54. The company’s fifty day moving average is $100.47 and its two-hundred day moving average is $101.68.

Axis Capital (NYSE:AXS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The insurance provider reported $3.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.33 by $0.09. Axis Capital had a net margin of 16.00% and a return on equity of 18.12%. The company had revenue of $1.64 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.72 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.17 EPS. Axis Capital’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.0% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Axis Capital Holdings Limited will post 13.26 earnings per share for the current year.

Axis Capital Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 30th will be given a dividend of $0.44 per share. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 30th. Axis Capital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 13.11%.

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.