Victory Capital Management Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in Axis Capital Holdings Limited (NYSE:AXS)

Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Axis Capital Holdings Limited (NYSE:AXS - Free Report) by 0.4% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,359,471 shares of the insurance provider's stock after buying an additional 4,793 shares during the quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. owned about 1.73% of Axis Capital worth $136,273,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of AXS. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in Axis Capital by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,144,247 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $367,265,000 after acquiring an additional 17,764 shares in the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Axis Capital by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,444,128 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $305,219,000 after purchasing an additional 12,571 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Axis Capital by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 3,178,512 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $281,680,000 after purchasing an additional 53,514 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Axis Capital by 5.3% during the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,689,510 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $238,344,000 after purchasing an additional 134,157 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its holdings in shares of Axis Capital by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 2,042,925 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $181,045,000 after purchasing an additional 20,976 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.44% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AXS has been the topic of a number of research reports. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on Axis Capital from $116.00 to $119.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, April 11th. UBS Group increased their price target on Axis Capital from $105.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Cowen reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Axis Capital in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. JMP Securities reissued a "market perform" rating on shares of Axis Capital in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Axis Capital from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, April 12th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Axis Capital presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $108.25.

Axis Capital Stock Up 0.1%

Shares of NYSE:AXS traded up $0.09 on Friday, reaching $97.09. The company had a trading volume of 324,207 shares, compared to its average volume of 628,064. Axis Capital Holdings Limited has a 52-week low of $70.16 and a 52-week high of $107.19. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $101.20 and its 200-day simple moving average is $96.09. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.64 billion, a PE ratio of 9.63, a PEG ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 0.81. The company has a current ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29.

Axis Capital (NYSE:AXS - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The insurance provider reported $3.17 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.64 by $0.53. The company had revenue of $1.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.83 billion. Axis Capital had a return on equity of 19.01% and a net margin of 14.54%. The firm's revenue was up 6.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.07 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Axis Capital Holdings Limited will post 11.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Axis Capital Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 30th were paid a dividend of $0.44 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 30th. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.81%. Axis Capital's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 17.46%.

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.