Teacher Retirement System of Texas Grows Stake in AXIS Capital Holdings Limited (NYSE:AXS)

Teacher Retirement System of Texas grew its position in shares of AXIS Capital Holdings Limited (NYSE:AXS) by 9.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 118,169 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 10,619 shares during the period. Teacher Retirement System of Texas owned approximately 0.14% of AXIS Capital worth $10,472,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd purchased a new position in shares of AXIS Capital during the 4th quarter valued at $924,000. Xponance Inc. grew its position in shares of AXIS Capital by 15.5% during the 4th quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 3,429 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $304,000 after purchasing an additional 461 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners grew its position in shares of AXIS Capital by 4.5% during the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 710,382 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $62,992,000 after purchasing an additional 30,448 shares in the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of AXIS Capital by 170.4% during the 4th quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 7,966 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $706,000 after purchasing an additional 5,020 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cozad Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of AXIS Capital during the 4th quarter valued at $623,000. 93.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AXS has been the subject of several research reports. BMO Capital Markets initiated coverage on shares of AXIS Capital in a research report on Monday, January 13th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $93.00 target price for the company. JMP Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of AXIS Capital in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. StockNews.com upgraded shares of AXIS Capital from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. TD Cowen upped their target price on shares of AXIS Capital from $118.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of AXIS Capital from $115.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $100.25.

AXIS Capital Stock Performance

NYSE AXS opened at $95.00 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $91.93 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $87.06. 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 Holdings Limited has a 12-month low of $60.45 and a 12-month high of $98.11. The firm has a market cap of $7.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.69, a PEG ratio of 3.96 and a beta of 0.91.

AXIS Capital (NYSE:AXS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The insurance provider reported $2.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.68 by $0.29. AXIS Capital had a net margin of 18.16% and a return on equity of 18.89%. On average, equities analysts forecast that AXIS Capital Holdings Limited will post 11.19 EPS for the current year.

AXIS Capital Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.44 per share. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.85%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. AXIS Capital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 14.25%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Charles A. Davis sold 2,139,037 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.50, for a total transaction of $199,999,959.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 2,404,133 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $224,786,435.50. This represents a 47.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.50% of the company’s stock.

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.