Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. Grows Position in AXIS Capital Holdings Limited (NYSE:AXS)

Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. boosted its stake in AXIS Capital Holdings Limited (NYSE:AXS) by 3.0% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 308,962 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 9,078 shares during the quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc.’s holdings in AXIS Capital were worth $27,380,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust lifted its position in shares of AXIS Capital by 7.5% during the fourth quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 1,931 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $171,000 after purchasing an additional 134 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc lifted its position in shares of AXIS Capital by 5.1% during the fourth quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 2,799 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $248,000 after purchasing an additional 137 shares in the last quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its position in shares of AXIS Capital by 21.6% during the fourth quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 900 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $80,000 after purchasing an additional 160 shares in the last quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of AXIS Capital by 0.4% during the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Venturi Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of AXIS Capital by 28.5% during the fourth quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 833 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $74,000 after purchasing an additional 185 shares in the last quarter. 93.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

AXIS Capital Trading Up 0.5%

AXS opened at $101.23 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.96 billion, a PE ratio of 8.20, a P/E/G ratio of 3.96 and a beta of 0.82. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $95.47 and its 200 day moving average price is $91.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.60 and a quick ratio of 0.60. AXIS Capital Holdings Limited has a 12-month low of $68.02 and a 12-month high of $107.00.

AXIS Capital (NYSE:AXS) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The insurance provider reported $3.17 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.64 by $0.53. AXIS Capital had a net margin of 18.16% and a return on equity of 18.89%. The firm had revenue of $1.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.83 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $3.07 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that AXIS Capital Holdings Limited will post 11.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AXIS Capital Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st were paid a dividend of $0.44 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 31st. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.74%. AXIS Capital’s payout ratio is 17.46%.

Insider Buying and Selling at AXIS Capital

In other AXIS Capital news, Director Charles A. Davis sold 2,139,037 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the director now owns 2,404,133 shares in the company, valued at $224,786,435.50. The trade was a 47.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AXS has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. StockNews.com raised shares of AXIS Capital from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, April 12th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of AXIS Capital from $100.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of AXIS Capital in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of AXIS Capital from $114.00 to $118.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets began coverage on shares of AXIS Capital in a report on Monday, January 13th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $93.00 price target on the stock. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, AXIS Capital presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $107.75.

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.