Short Interest in AXIS Capital Holdings Limited (NYSE:AXS) Drops By 7.8%

AXIS Capital Holdings Limited (NYSE:AXS) saw a significant decrease in short interest in the month of August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,180,000 shares, a decrease of 7.8% from the August 15th total of 1,280,000 shares. Approximately 1.5% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 510,300 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.3 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AXIS Capital

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in AXS. BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its stake in AXIS Capital by 43.9% during the fourth quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 26,663 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,476,000 after purchasing an additional 8,135 shares during the last quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in AXIS Capital by 25.4% during the fourth quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 7,580 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $420,000 after acquiring an additional 1,535 shares during the period. ING Groep NV bought a new position in AXIS Capital in the fourth quarter worth about $1,168,000. Norges Bank bought a new position in AXIS Capital in the fourth quarter worth about $52,845,000. Finally, Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in AXIS Capital in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $515,000. 93.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AXS has been the topic of several analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on AXIS Capital from $86.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of AXIS Capital from $63.00 to $74.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 12th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of AXIS Capital from $82.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Roth Mkm upped their price objective on shares of AXIS Capital from $75.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Bank of America raised their target price on AXIS Capital from $74.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, AXIS Capital presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $80.50.

AXIS Capital Price Performance

Shares of AXS stock opened at $79.34 on Thursday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $75.06 and a two-hundred day moving average of $69.80. The firm has a market cap of $6.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.13, a P/E/G ratio of 0.25 and a beta of 0.89. AXIS Capital has a 1-year low of $52.90 and a 1-year high of $80.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.62 and a quick ratio of 0.62.

AXIS Capital (NYSE:AXS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The insurance provider reported $2.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.52 by $0.41. AXIS Capital had a return on equity of 19.70% and a net margin of 11.28%. The firm had revenue of $1.45 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.49 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.23 earnings per share. AXIS Capital’s quarterly revenue was up 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that AXIS Capital will post 10.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.