AXIS Capital Holdings Limited (NYSE:AXS) Shares Bought by Barclays PLC

Barclays PLC increased its holdings in AXIS Capital Holdings Limited (NYSE:AXS) by 53.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 48,964 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 17,082 shares during the period. Barclays PLC’s holdings in AXIS Capital were worth $3,898,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of AXS. Verition Fund Management LLC acquired a new stake in AXIS Capital in the third quarter worth $453,000. Entropy Technologies LP bought a new position in shares of AXIS Capital during the third quarter worth about $507,000. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its position in AXIS Capital by 24.4% in the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,625,057 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $129,371,000 after purchasing an additional 318,784 shares during the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC acquired a new position in AXIS Capital during the 3rd quarter valued at about $638,000. Finally, Mirabella Financial Services LLP bought a new position in AXIS Capital in the 3rd quarter worth about $4,249,000. Institutional investors own 93.44% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on AXS. TD Cowen lifted their price target on AXIS Capital from $118.00 to $127.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted 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. Bank of America increased their price target on AXIS Capital from $81.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on shares of AXIS Capital from $94.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on shares of AXIS Capital from $92.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $98.71.

AXIS Capital Trading Up 2.8 %

Shares of AXIS Capital stock opened at $90.03 on Monday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $86.33 and a 200-day simple moving average of $78.74. AXIS Capital Holdings Limited has a fifty-two week low of $53.49 and a fifty-two week high of $94.89. The firm has a market cap of $7.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.31 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a quick ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27.

AXIS Capital (NYSE:AXS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The insurance provider reported $2.71 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.55 by $0.16. AXIS Capital had a net margin of 10.82% and a return on equity of 19.24%. The company had revenue of $1.61 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.57 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.34 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that AXIS Capital Holdings Limited will post 10.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AXIS Capital Dividend Announcement

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

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.