BMO Capital Markets Initiates Coverage on AXIS Capital (NYSE:AXS)

BMO Capital Markets started coverage on shares of AXIS Capital (NYSE:AXS - Free Report) in a report published on Monday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The brokerage issued a market perform rating and a $93.00 price objective on the insurance provider's stock.

Several other equities analysts have also recently commented on the stock. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of AXIS Capital from $92.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on AXIS Capital from $88.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Bank of America upped their price target on AXIS Capital from $81.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on AXIS Capital from $118.00 to $127.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of AXIS Capital from $108.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, AXIS Capital currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $99.75.

AXIS Capital Trading Up 0.4 %

AXIS Capital stock traded up $0.30 during trading on Monday, hitting $85.84. The company had a trading volume of 669,629 shares, compared to its average volume of 590,004. The company has a current ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $88.65 and its 200-day simple moving average is $80.64. AXIS Capital has a 1-year low of $53.88 and a 1-year high of $94.89. The stock has a market cap of $7.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.31 and a beta of 0.95.

AXIS Capital (NYSE:AXS - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The insurance provider reported $2.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.55 by $0.16. The firm had revenue of $1.61 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.57 billion. AXIS Capital had a return on equity of 19.24% and a net margin of 10.82%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.34 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that AXIS Capital will post 10.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AXIS Capital Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.44 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.05%. AXIS Capital's dividend payout ratio is currently 24.41%.

Institutional Trading of AXIS Capital

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in AXIS Capital by 3.9% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,075,087 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $287,909,000 after purchasing an additional 152,914 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of AXIS Capital by 9.0% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,583,700 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $182,538,000 after buying an additional 213,559 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of AXIS Capital by 7.2% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,675,417 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $134,110,000 after buying an additional 112,536 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its stake in shares of AXIS Capital by 24.4% in the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,625,057 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $129,371,000 after buying an additional 318,784 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC grew its holdings in AXIS Capital by 12.5% during the second quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 1,417,464 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $100,144,000 after acquiring an additional 157,110 shares during the period. 93.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.