Hennessy Advisors Inc. Acquires New Shares in Axis Capital Holdings Limited $AXS

Key Points

• Hennessy Advisors Inc. has acquired 103,600 shares of Axis Capital Holdings Limited, valued at approximately $10.76 million, increasing its stake to 0.13% by the end of the last quarter.
• Recent insider transactions include the sale of 12,205 shares by company insiders, resulting in a significant decrease in their ownership positions.
• Analyst ratings for Axis Capital vary, with seven analysts giving a "Buy" rating and a consensus target price set at $111.43 amid recent performance reports and earnings.

Hennessy Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Axis Capital Holdings Limited (NYSE:AXS - Free Report) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 103,600 shares of the insurance provider's stock, valued at approximately $10,756,000. Hennessy Advisors Inc. owned approximately 0.13% of Axis Capital at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in AXS. Squarepoint Ops LLC purchased a new stake in Axis Capital during the 4th quarter valued at $319,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in Axis Capital by 11,415.5% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 185,745 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $18,619,000 after buying an additional 184,132 shares during the last quarter. NBC Securities Inc. purchased a new stake in Axis Capital during the 1st quarter valued at $33,000. Merit Financial Group LLC raised its stake in Axis Capital by 140.3% during the 1st quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 14,897 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $1,493,000 after buying an additional 8,698 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vest Financial LLC purchased a new stake in Axis Capital during the 1st quarter valued at $3,868,000. 93.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Axis Capital

In other news, Director Henry B. Smith sold 3,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.67, for a total value of $345,345.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 47,295 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,666,597.65. This represents a 6.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Daniel J. Draper sold 4,305 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $97.57, for a total value of $420,038.85. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 16,269 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,587,366.33. This trade represents a 20.92% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 12,205 shares of company stock valued at $1,188,048. Corporate insiders own 0.70% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on AXS shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of Axis Capital from $118.00 to $121.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Axis Capital from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, August 2nd. Weiss Ratings restated a "buy (b+)" rating on shares of Axis Capital in a research note on Saturday, September 27th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Axis Capital from $104.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. Finally, UBS Group restated a "buy" rating and issued a $119.00 price objective (up from $115.00) on shares of Axis Capital in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $111.43.

Axis Capital Trading Up 0.7%

Shares of Axis Capital stock opened at $94.53 on Friday. 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 company has a fifty day moving average of $96.43 and a 200 day moving average of $97.99. The company has a market capitalization of $7.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.09, a P/E/G ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 0.73. Axis Capital Holdings Limited has a fifty-two week low of $77.21 and a fifty-two week high of $107.19.

Axis Capital (NYSE:AXS - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 29th. The insurance provider reported $3.29 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.88 by $0.41. The firm had revenue of $1.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.68 billion. Axis Capital had a return on equity of 18.77% and a net margin of 14.30%.The business's quarterly revenue was up 12.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.93 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Axis Capital Holdings Limited will post 11.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Axis Capital Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 17th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 30th will be paid a $0.44 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 30th. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.9%. Axis Capital's dividend payout ratio is 16.92%.

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.

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