AXIS Capital Holdings Limited (NYSE:AXS) Short Interest Up 5.7% in July

AXIS Capital Holdings Limited (NYSE:AXS) saw a significant growth in short interest in the month of July. As of July 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,120,000 shares, a growth of 5.7% from the June 30th total of 1,060,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 564,600 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.0 days. Approximately 1.5% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently weighed in on AXS. Roth Mkm raised their price objective on AXIS Capital from $75.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of AXIS Capital from $82.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of AXIS Capital from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of AXIS Capital from $74.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of AXIS Capital from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, May 10th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $74.43.

Insider Transactions at AXIS Capital

In related news, Director W Marston Becker acquired 3,025 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 6th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $66.58 per share, with a total value of $201,404.50. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 21,821 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,452,842.18. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, Director W Marston Becker purchased 3,025 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 6th. The stock was bought at an average price of $66.58 per share, with a total value of $201,404.50. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 21,821 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,452,842.18. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Michael Millegan acquired 1,400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 21st. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $71.49 per share, for a total transaction of $100,086.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 9,016 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $644,553.84. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have acquired 6,425 shares of company stock valued at $444,351. 0.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of AXIS Capital by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,707,110 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $482,113,000 after purchasing an additional 75,085 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in AXIS Capital by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,788,802 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $209,785,000 after acquiring an additional 27,750 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its position in shares of AXIS Capital by 30.7% in the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 2,321,271 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $150,928,000 after acquiring an additional 545,546 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC raised its position in shares of AXIS Capital by 1.7% in the 1st quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,246,288 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $81,034,000 after acquiring an additional 20,746 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Boston Partners boosted its position in shares of AXIS Capital by 6.5% during the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 1,054,990 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $67,825,000 after purchasing an additional 64,438 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.44% of the company’s stock.

AXIS Capital Trading Down 1.5 %

Shares of AXS stock traded down $1.10 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $74.65. 550,839 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 607,034. The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. AXIS Capital has a 12 month low of $52.90 and a 12 month high of $78.74. The stock has a market cap of $6.32 billion, a PE ratio of 11.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.27 and a beta of 0.90. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $71.41 and its 200 day simple moving average is $65.68.

AXIS Capital (NYSE:AXS) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The insurance provider reported $2.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.52 by $0.41. AXIS Capital had a return on equity of 20.11% and a net margin of 11.28%. The business had revenue of $1.45 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.49 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.23 EPS. AXIS Capital’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that AXIS Capital will post 10.01 EPS for the current year.

AXIS Capital Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 18th. Investors of record on Friday, June 28th were issued a $0.44 dividend. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.36%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 28th. AXIS Capital’s payout ratio is presently 26.91%.

AXIS Capital Company 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.