AXIS Capital Holdings Limited (NYSE:AXS) Position Lessened by Clear Harbor Asset Management LLC

Clear Harbor Asset Management LLC lowered its position in AXIS Capital Holdings Limited (NYSE:AXS) by 3.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 80,813 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 2,532 shares during the quarter. Clear Harbor Asset Management LLC owned approximately 0.10% of AXIS Capital worth $7,162,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its holdings in AXIS Capital by 235.6% in the second quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 165,100 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $11,664,000 after buying an additional 115,900 shares during the last quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV increased its stake in shares of AXIS Capital by 3.7% during the 2nd quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 9,527 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $673,000 after purchasing an additional 342 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of AXIS Capital by 21.3% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 6,854 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $484,000 after purchasing an additional 1,203 shares in the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC bought a new stake in AXIS Capital in the second quarter worth $427,000. Finally, Ensign Peak Advisors Inc increased its position in AXIS Capital by 84.4% during the second quarter. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc now owns 40,404 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,855,000 after buying an additional 18,490 shares during the last quarter. 93.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on AXS. Bank of America increased their price objective on AXIS Capital from $81.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of AXIS Capital from $92.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on AXIS Capital from $89.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on AXIS Capital from $88.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, TD Cowen lifted their price target on AXIS Capital from $118.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, AXIS Capital presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $99.25.

AXIS Capital Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE AXS opened at $90.19 on Tuesday. AXIS Capital Holdings Limited has a one year low of $54.31 and a one year high of $94.89. The company has a current ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $89.43 and a 200 day simple moving average of $81.43. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.51, a PEG ratio of 0.29 and a beta of 0.95.

AXIS Capital (NYSE:AXS) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The insurance provider reported $2.71 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.55 by $0.16. The business had revenue of $1.61 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.57 billion. AXIS Capital had a net margin of 10.82% and a return on equity of 19.24%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.34 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that AXIS Capital Holdings Limited will post 10.89 EPS for the current year.

AXIS Capital Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st were issued a dividend of $0.44 per share. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.95%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 31st. AXIS Capital’s dividend payout ratio is currently 24.41%.

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.