Legal & General Group Plc Sells 9,056 Shares of AXIS Capital Holdings Limited (NYSE:AXS)

Legal & General Group Plc reduced its stake in AXIS Capital Holdings Limited (NYSE:AXS - Free Report) by 6.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 126,393 shares of the insurance provider's stock after selling 9,056 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc owned approximately 0.15% of AXIS Capital worth $11,201,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of AXIS Capital in the fourth quarter valued at about $88,175,000. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of AXIS Capital in the 4th quarter worth approximately $88,147,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA bought a new position in shares of AXIS Capital in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $37,775,000. Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in shares of AXIS Capital during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,118,000. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in AXIS Capital by 7,053.2% during the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 353,941 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $31,366,000 after acquiring an additional 348,993 shares during the period. 93.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AXS has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on AXIS Capital from $116.00 to $119.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, April 11th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of AXIS Capital from $105.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of AXIS Capital from $97.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a "market perform" rating on shares of AXIS Capital in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, StockNews.com raised AXIS Capital from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday, April 12th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $106.75.

AXIS Capital Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE AXS traded up $4.05 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $95.99. The company had a trading volume of 406,196 shares, compared to its average volume of 601,883. The company has a current ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. AXIS Capital Holdings Limited has a 1 year low of $60.64 and a 1 year high of $101.42. The company has a market capitalization of $7.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.77, a P/E/G ratio of 3.96 and a beta of 0.67. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $94.34 and its 200-day moving average price is $89.78.

AXIS Capital (NYSE:AXS - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The insurance provider reported $2.97 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.68 by $0.29. AXIS Capital had a return on equity of 18.89% and a net margin of 18.16%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that AXIS Capital Holdings Limited will post 11.19 earnings per share for the current year.

AXIS Capital Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st were issued a dividend of $0.44 per share. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.83%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 31st. AXIS Capital's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 14.25%.

Insider Activity at AXIS Capital

In other AXIS Capital news, Director Charles A. Davis sold 2,234,636 shares of AXIS Capital stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.50, for a total transaction of $199,999,922.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 4,543,170 shares of the company's stock, valued at $406,613,715. The trade was a 32.97 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.