Meritage Portfolio Management Reduces Stock Holdings in AXIS Capital Holdings Limited (NYSE:AXS)

Meritage Portfolio Management decreased its stake in shares of AXIS Capital Holdings Limited (NYSE:AXS - Free Report) by 4.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 80,628 shares of the insurance provider's stock after selling 4,191 shares during the period. Meritage Portfolio Management owned about 0.10% of AXIS Capital worth $7,145,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in AXS. Independent Advisor Alliance boosted its stake in AXIS Capital by 0.4% in the third quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 32,549 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $2,591,000 after acquiring an additional 125 shares during the last quarter. Pathstone Holdings LLC lifted its stake in AXIS Capital by 0.4% in the third quarter. Pathstone Holdings LLC now owns 31,785 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $2,542,000 after purchasing an additional 127 shares during the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its holdings in AXIS Capital by 24.0% during the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 671 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $59,000 after purchasing an additional 130 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its position in AXIS Capital by 1.1% in the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 15,394 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $1,226,000 after buying an additional 170 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Measured Wealth Private Client Group LLC raised its stake in shares of AXIS Capital by 3.8% in the third quarter. Measured Wealth Private Client Group LLC now owns 4,971 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $396,000 after buying an additional 180 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 93.44% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AXS has been the topic of a number of research reports. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on AXIS Capital from $89.00 to $85.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on shares of AXIS Capital from $118.00 to $127.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of AXIS Capital from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday. StockNews.com lowered AXIS Capital from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on AXIS Capital from $92.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $99.88.

AXIS Capital Price Performance

AXIS Capital stock traded down $0.76 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $93.43. 801,582 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 696,762. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $90.05 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $83.18. AXIS Capital Holdings Limited has a 52-week low of $57.99 and a 52-week high of $94.89. The company has a market cap of $7.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.57, a PEG ratio of 4.01 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a current ratio of 0.60.

AXIS Capital (NYSE:AXS - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The insurance provider reported $2.97 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.68 by $0.29. AXIS Capital had a net margin of 18.16% and a return on equity of 18.89%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that AXIS Capital Holdings Limited will post 11.36 earnings per share for the current year.

AXIS Capital Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st were issued a $0.44 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.88%. AXIS Capital's payout ratio is 14.25%.

Insider Activity

In other AXIS Capital news, Director Charles A. Davis sold 2,234,636 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the director now owns 4,543,170 shares of the company's stock, valued at $406,613,715. This represents a 32.97 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.50% of the company's stock.

About AXIS Capital

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.