Great Lakes Advisors LLC Acquires New Position in Axis Capital Holdings Limited $AXS

Great Lakes Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Axis Capital Holdings Limited (NYSE:AXS) during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund acquired 28,847 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $3,099,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AXS. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Axis Capital by 30.9% in the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 4,592,270 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $491,786,000 after purchasing an additional 1,083,579 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Axis Capital during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $103,001,000. Freestone Grove Partners LP bought a new position in Axis Capital in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $56,705,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its holdings in Axis Capital by 147.0% in the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 745,591 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $79,845,000 after buying an additional 443,761 shares during the period. Finally, Millennium Management LLC grew its stake in Axis Capital by 374.7% in the 3rd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 553,565 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $53,032,000 after buying an additional 436,944 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Atlantic Securities set a $122.00 target price on shares of Axis Capital in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on Axis Capital from $131.00 to $125.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, August 4th. Capital One Financial set a $108.00 price target on Axis Capital in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. BMO Capital Markets reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Axis Capital in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Finally, Zacks Research cut Axis Capital from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 12th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $120.50.

Axis Capital Stock Performance

Axis Capital stock opened at $98.91 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $107.52 and its 200 day simple moving average is $103.18. The company has a current ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 0.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.22 billion, a PE ratio of 7.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.30 and a beta of 0.50. Axis Capital Holdings Limited has a 1-year low of $88.07 and a 1-year high of $119.99.

Axis Capital (NYSE:AXS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The insurance provider reported $2.84 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.25 by ($0.41). Axis Capital had a net margin of 16.23% and a return on equity of 17.00%. The firm had revenue of $1.75 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.74 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.29 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Axis Capital Holdings Limited will post 12.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.