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

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

AXIS Capital Price Performance

NYSE:AXS opened at $79.34 on Thursday. AXIS Capital has a 52-week low of $52.90 and a 52-week high of $80.50. The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The firm has a market cap of $6.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.13, a PEG ratio of 0.25 and a beta of 0.89. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $75.06 and its 200 day moving average price is $69.80.

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AXIS Capital

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of AXIS Capital by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,707,110 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $482,113,000 after purchasing an additional 75,085 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in AXIS Capital by 3.9% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,075,087 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $287,909,000 after buying an additional 152,914 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in AXIS Capital by 9.0% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,583,700 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $182,538,000 after buying an additional 213,559 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its holdings in shares of AXIS Capital by 30.7% in the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 2,321,271 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $150,928,000 after buying an additional 545,546 shares during the period. Finally, Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC increased its position in shares of AXIS Capital by 12.5% in 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.44% of the company’s stock.

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.