Advantage Alpha Capital Partners LP Sells 5,150 Shares of Axos Financial, Inc $AX

Key Points

• Advantage Alpha Capital Partners LP has significantly reduced its stake in Axos Financial, Inc by 60.8%, selling 5,150 shares and now owning only 3,321 shares valued at $214,000.
• Multiple institutional investors have increased their holdings in Axos Financial, with New York State Common Retirement Fund acquiring an additional 181 shares and boosting its stake by 1.1% during the first quarter.
• Analysts maintain a Moderate Buy consensus rating for Axos Financial, with various price targets set between $80.00 and $102.00 after the firm reported a better-than-expected earnings per share of $1.94.

Advantage Alpha Capital Partners LP lowered its position in Axos Financial, Inc (NYSE:AX - Free Report) by 60.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,321 shares of the company's stock after selling 5,150 shares during the period. Advantage Alpha Capital Partners LP's holdings in Axos Financial were worth $214,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in shares of Axos Financial by 14.7% in the 1st quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,151,229 shares of the company's stock valued at $138,797,000 after buying an additional 276,450 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in shares of Axos Financial by 4.7% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 742,837 shares of the company's stock valued at $51,887,000 after buying an additional 33,207 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its stake in Axos Financial by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 681,878 shares of the company's stock worth $43,994,000 after purchasing an additional 4,332 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in Axos Financial in the 1st quarter worth $35,240,000. Finally, Emerald Advisers LLC boosted its stake in Axos Financial by 11.4% in the 1st quarter. Emerald Advisers LLC now owns 533,586 shares of the company's stock worth $34,427,000 after purchasing an additional 54,466 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 83.79% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Axos Financial

In other news, EVP Andrew J. Micheletti sold 13,960 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.38, for a total transaction of $1,191,904.80. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 67,460 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,759,734.80. This trade represents a 17.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 5.07% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on AX shares. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $95.00 target price (up from $90.00) on shares of Axos Financial in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. DA Davidson increased their price objective on shares of Axos Financial from $96.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of Axos Financial in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. They set a "buy" rating and a $90.00 price objective for the company. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on shares of Axos Financial from $84.00 to $80.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on shares of Axos Financial from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Axos Financial presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $90.86.

Axos Financial Stock Performance

NYSE AX traded down $0.74 on Thursday, reaching $91.58. The stock had a trading volume of 78,909 shares, compared to its average volume of 387,696. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 1.09 and a quick ratio of 1.09. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $83.98 and a two-hundred day moving average of $72.32. Axos Financial, Inc has a 1-year low of $54.46 and a 1-year high of $92.99. The company has a market cap of $5.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.28 and a beta of 1.32.

Axos Financial (NYSE:AX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported $1.94 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.82 by $0.12. Axos Financial had a return on equity of 17.11% and a net margin of 22.24%.The firm had revenue of $321.45 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $311.73 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.83 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 10.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Axos Financial, Inc will post 7.22 EPS for the current year.

Axos Financial declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback program on Monday, May 12th that allows the company to buyback $100.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to purchase up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically a sign that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

About Axos Financial

Axos Financial, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides consumer and business banking products in the United States. It operates through two segments, Banking Business and Securities Business. The company offers deposits products, including consumer and business checking, demand, savings, time deposit, money market, zero balance, and insured cash sweep accounts.