California Public Employees Retirement System Reduces Position in Axon Enterprise, Inc $AXON

Key Points

• CalPERS cut its Axon stake by 4.7% in the first quarter, selling 4,565 shares and ending with 93,268 shares valued at about $39.6 million.
• Insider selling continued, including CEO Patrick W. Smith’s sale of 10,000 shares under a pre-arranged trading plan; insiders have sold nearly 59,000 shares worth about $30.5 million over the past three months.
• Wall Street remains constructive on AXON, with 15 analysts rating it a Buy and a consensus price target of $725.25, even as the stock traded around $527.48 and the company reported strong quarterly revenue growth of 33.7% year over year.

California Public Employees Retirement System lowered its position in Axon Enterprise, Inc (NASDAQ:AXON - Free Report) by 4.7% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 93,268 shares of the biotechnology company's stock after selling 4,565 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System owned approximately 0.12% of Axon Enterprise worth $39,610,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of AXON. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Axon Enterprise by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,367,224 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $5,319,928,000 after buying an additional 53,060 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Axon Enterprise by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,226,159 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $1,265,657,000 after acquiring an additional 35,544 shares during the period. Baillie Gifford & Co. raised its stake in shares of Axon Enterprise by 1,198.7% during the fourth quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 1,642,578 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $932,869,000 after acquiring an additional 1,516,099 shares in the last quarter. Sands Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Axon Enterprise by 11.6% during the fourth quarter. Sands Capital Management LLC now owns 1,609,436 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $914,047,000 after acquiring an additional 167,095 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in shares of Axon Enterprise by 326.9% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,539,738 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $874,463,000 after purchasing an additional 1,179,038 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.08% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Axon Enterprise

In other news, Director Caitlin Elizabeth Kalinowski sold 564 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $478.97, for a total transaction of $270,139.08. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 3,632 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,739,619.04. This represents a 13.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Patrick W. Smith sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $643.79, for a total value of $6,437,900.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 3,040,997 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,957,763,458.63. This represents a 0.33% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 58,989 shares of company stock valued at $30,527,983 over the last three months. Company insiders own 4.20% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on AXON. Citizens Jmp reissued a "market outperform" rating and issued a $700.00 price objective on shares of Axon Enterprise in a research note on Thursday, June 25th. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on Axon Enterprise from $674.00 to $724.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, July 13th. TD Cowen lowered their target price on Axon Enterprise from $950.00 to $825.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 8th. UBS Group dropped their price target on Axon Enterprise from $570.00 to $440.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group set a $535.00 price target on Axon Enterprise in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Fifteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Axon Enterprise has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $725.25.

Axon Enterprise Price Performance

AXON opened at $527.48 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $42.51 billion, a PE ratio of 211.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 10.41 and a beta of 1.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 2.27 and a quick ratio of 1.93. The business's 50-day moving average is $474.33 and its two-hundred day moving average is $480.87. Axon Enterprise, Inc has a 1 year low of $339.01 and a 1 year high of $885.91.

Axon Enterprise (NASDAQ:AXON - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The biotechnology company reported $1.61 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.01. Axon Enterprise had a net margin of 6.90% and a return on equity of 3.78%. The business had revenue of $807.35 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $778.90 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.47 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 33.7% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Axon Enterprise, Inc will post 1.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Axon Enterprise Company Profile

Axon Enterprise, Inc develops technology and weapons systems for public safety and law enforcement agencies, combining hardware, software and cloud services. The company's hardware portfolio includes conducted energy weapons (commonly known as TASER devices), body-worn cameras and in-car camera systems. Axon pairs these devices with a suite of connected products and accessories designed to capture, store and manage field evidence.

Beyond hardware, Axon operates a subscription-based software platform for digital evidence management, evidence review and records management.

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