Axis Capital Holdings Limited $AXS Shares Sold by First Manhattan CO. LLC.

First Manhattan CO. LLC. trimmed its position in Axis Capital Holdings Limited (NYSE:AXS) by 2.2% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 188,064 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 4,299 shares during the period. First Manhattan CO. LLC.’s holdings in Axis Capital were worth $18,934,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of AXS. Stifel Financial Corp boosted its holdings in Axis Capital by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 32,720 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,900,000 after buying an additional 861 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its holdings in shares of Axis Capital by 3.8% during the 4th quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 15,972 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,415,000 after purchasing an additional 578 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Axis Capital by 19.4% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 440,763 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $39,060,000 after purchasing an additional 71,553 shares during the last quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Axis Capital by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 40,915 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $3,626,000 after purchasing an additional 163 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Captrust Financial Advisors boosted its holdings in shares of Axis Capital by 38.7% during the 4th quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 9,611 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $852,000 after purchasing an additional 2,681 shares during the last quarter. 93.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on AXS shares. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $119.00 target price (up from $115.00) on shares of Axis Capital in a report on Monday, August 4th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Axis Capital from $104.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 10th. Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of Axis Capital in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. Wall Street Zen cut Axis Capital from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, August 2nd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on Axis Capital from $118.00 to $121.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Axis Capital presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $111.43.

Axis Capital Stock Down 0.2%

AXS stock opened at $98.47 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $7.70 billion, a PE ratio of 9.47, a PEG ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a current ratio of 0.69. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $97.69 and its 200-day moving average price is $97.52. Axis Capital Holdings Limited has a one year low of $74.68 and a one year high of $107.19.

Axis Capital (NYSE:AXS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The insurance provider reported $3.29 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.88 by $0.41. The firm had revenue of $1.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.68 billion. Axis Capital had a net margin of 14.30% and a return on equity of 18.77%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.93 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Axis Capital Holdings Limited will post 11.19 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Axis Capital news, Director Henry B. Smith sold 3,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.67, for a total value of $345,345.00. Following the sale, the director owned 47,295 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,666,597.65. The trade was a 6.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Daniel J. Draper sold 4,305 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $97.57, for a total value of $420,038.85. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 16,269 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,587,366.33. The trade was a 20.92% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 12,205 shares of company stock worth $1,188,048. 0.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.