By Chris Munro

April 2 - (The Insurer) - Axis Capital Group’s share price ended trading above $100 for the first time in the company’s history on March 31, with the milestone coming less than two years after Vince Tizzio was appointed president and CEO when its stock was trading at $53.41.

The (re)insurer’s share price ended trading on March 31 at $100.24. That was the first time Axis’ New York Stock Exchange listed stock had closed above the $100 mark.

And the company maintained that record for the second consecutive day, with Axis’ share price closing Tuesday at $100.54, an increase of 0.2% from Monday’s end.

Axis’ stock had briefly surpassed the $100 point for the first time on March 28, but its share price ultimately ended that day’s trading at $99.50.

The company’s recently generated record share price comes as Tizzio nears the second anniversary of him taking on the role of president and CEO of the Bermuda-based (re)insurer.

Tizzio joined Axis in January 2022, initially as a senior advisor, insurance market strategy and future CEO of the company’s insurance business.

In June 2022, Tizzio’s role was broadened to CEO, specialty insurance and reinsurance, a role in which he oversaw all business lines and front-end operations.

That transition was announced at the same time Axis revealed it was exiting the property reinsurance market in a move designed to further reduce its overall exposure to catastrophe risk.

By exiting property reinsurance, Axis focused on casualty, specialty, credit and accident and health segments.

The changes announced in June 2022 also saw Ann Haugh appointed CEO of Axis Re.

Tizzio assumed the roles of president and CEO at Axis in May 2023, succeeding Albert Benchimol, who had led the company for a decade.

After taking leadership of Axis, Tizzio made clear his efforts to reposition the company as a business focused firmly on underwriting.

At the company’s investor day last May, the company declared that its strategic focus is on specialty products, and “risk transfer that requires dedicated, tailored underwriting expertise delivered through differentiated distribution channels and customer profiles."

And the gradual increase in Axis’ share price has coincided with what has been an extended period of underwriting profitability for the (re)insurer, with all but one of the quarterly earnings reports issued during Tizzio’s tenure as CEO including combined ratios that have comfortably been in the 90% to 95% range.

The sole exception was Axis’ Q4 2023 results, when the company posted a combined ratio of 124.6% for the period.

That result largely reflected the $425 million of pre-tax reserve strengthening that the company booked in Q4 2023, which added 33.6 points to its combined ratio for the three month stretch.

ROOM FOR GROWTH

As per recent analyst notes from Jefferies, KBW and TD Cowen, there is evidently confidence Axis’ stock will continue to rise.

In a note published on February 7 shortly after Axis issued its Q4 and full-year 2024 earnings, Jefferies said its price target on the Bermudian (re)insurer was unchanged at $116.

Analysts from KBW hosted Tizzio, Axis chief financial officer Peter Vogt and investor relations/corporate development head Cliff Gallant in March, and shortly afterwards published a note in which raised its target price on the (re)insurer to $120 from the previous $118.

After TD Cowen analysts held a meeting with Tizzio, Vogt and Axis Re CEO Ann Haugh in late March, they set their price target for the company at $127. TD Cowen had initiated its coverage on Axis in October 2024 with a target price of $118.

SPECIALTY PIVOT

The surge in Axis’ share price highlights the progress made at the company under the leadership of Tizzio.

After taking the top position at Axis, Tizzio previously told this publication he undertook a “broad-based assessment” of the business’ historical performance, and its “state of readiness to compete”.

Following that assessment, Tizzio established short, medium and long-term goals for the business that saw the company further lean into its specialty focus across both its insurance and reinsurance operations.

Those efforts to pivot into a specialty (re)insurance player have been timely with the specialty and E&S markets in the U.S. experiencing best-ever trading conditions with a record amount of business flowing into the channel and pricing in many segments rising considerably.

Tizzio’s time leading Axis has seen the executive undertake a host of moves to strengthen its underwriting capabilities.

MANAGEMENT MOVES

The company has also refreshed its management team both from within the company and by bringing in external talent.

Alongside Tizzio and Haugh, Celeste Cook joined Axis in March 2023 as chief operating officer of specialty (re)insurance, while Conrad Brooks, an 18 year veteran of the company, is chief administrative and legal officer.

Dan Draper has been at Axis for five years and serves as group chief underwriting officer, chief investment officer David Phillips’ tenure at the company stretches back 11 years, and Megan Watt joined in March 2023 and is chief claims officer.

Mike McKenna joined Axis in 2023 as head of North America, while Pete Vogt has been at the company for 14 years and serves as CFO.

More recent appointments include Stephen Lord, global chief information officer, who joined in February 2024, while Sara Farrup was appointed head of global markets in March this year following long serving Mark Gregory’s retirement.

ADDING AND EXPANDING

Alongside the management moves have been efforts to extend its reach in existing core classes of business, and enter new ones through further hires.

As Axis highlighted during its investor day in May last year, over the previous 12 months it added underwriting teams in both construction and marine cargo in the U.S., along with environmental and inland marine for North America.

In September last year, it also made a move into the North American life sciences market with the hire of Pranav Shroff from The Doctors Company.

Alongside those, Axis has also established dedicated lower middle market-focused units for the wholesale and retail channels.

The company has also sought to deliver consistent messages to key stakeholders, including its investors, trading partners across both its insurance and reinsurance units, and staff.

CONSISTENT MESSAGING

Alongside the focus on underwriting, another key message from Tizzio during his time leading Axis has been to consistently grow the company’s book value per share while also generating strong shareholder returns over the long term.

“Be consistent, say what we mean and do as we say,” Tizzio previously told The Insurer.

Tizzio has described Axis’ commitment to shareholders as a “relentless and significant priority."

During the nearly two years that Tizzio has led Axis, the (re)insurer’s board has given the green light to a couple of new share repurchase agreements.

The first was approved in May 2024, and saw Axis’ board approve a $300 million share repurchase agreement.

That was followed up in February of this year with a new $400 million share repurchase agreement.

Last year also saw the company return $350 million to shareholders through $200 million of share repurchases and $150 million in dividends. A further $200 million of shares have been repurchased in 2025 through the company’s program.

Axis continued to make further progress in Tizzio’s strategy in other ways too last year, as the company noted in an investor presentation issued alongside its Q4 and full-year 2024 earnings.

It generated a record $2.62 billion booked in new premiums, while the company closed out 2024 with record operating earnings per share of $11.18.

Its diluted book value per share excluding accumulated other comprehensive income increased by 17.5 % year on year.

Elsewhere, Axis in December 2024 announced it had agreed a loss portfolio transfer with Enstar on reinsurance reserves totalling $3.1 billion as of September 30 2024 that were primarily related to casualty business written during the 2021 and prior underwriting years.

That move, Axis said, further advanced its transition to a specialty underwriter.

And its newly launched Syndicate 2050 in Lloyd’s booked over $30 million in business during 2024.