Twin Tree Management LP Buys Shares of 2,112 Axis Capital Holdings Limited $AXS

Twin Tree Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Axis Capital Holdings Limited (NYSE:AXS) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 2,112 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $219,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in AXS. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in shares of Axis Capital by 14.9% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,853 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $186,000 after acquiring an additional 240 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new position in shares of Axis Capital during the first quarter valued at approximately $330,000. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its holdings in shares of Axis Capital by 36.2% during the first quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 37,666 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $3,776,000 after acquiring an additional 10,008 shares during the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC raised its holdings in shares of Axis Capital by 2.2% during the first quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 6,694 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $671,000 after acquiring an additional 145 shares during the last quarter. Finally, QRG Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Axis Capital by 6.1% during the first quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 8,953 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $897,000 after acquiring an additional 511 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Axis Capital

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on Axis Capital from $118.00 to $121.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. UBS Group upped their price target on Axis Capital from $119.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on Axis Capital in a research report on Tuesday. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $104.00 price target for the company. Wells Fargo & Company set a $123.00 price target on Axis Capital and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b+)” rating on shares of Axis Capital in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Axis Capital presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $115.29.

Axis Capital Trading Up 0.4%

Shares of Axis Capital stock opened at $92.51 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.90, a PEG ratio of 1.11 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. 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 stock has a 50 day moving average of $96.60 and a 200 day moving average of $97.83.

Axis Capital (NYSE:AXS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 29th. The insurance provider reported $3.29 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.88 by $0.41. The company 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 firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.93 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Axis Capital Holdings Limited will post 11.19 earnings per share for the current year.

Axis Capital Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 17th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 30th were given a $0.44 dividend. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 30th. Axis Capital’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.