Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd Increases Holdings in Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. (NYSE:AXTA)

Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. (NYSE:AXTA) by 89.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 84,639 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after purchasing an additional 40,070 shares during the quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd’s holdings in Axalta Coating Systems were worth $2,896,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Axalta Coating Systems by 0.7% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,822,955 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $246,923,000 after buying an additional 46,813 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Axalta Coating Systems by 0.9% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,669,190 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $132,823,000 after purchasing an additional 31,894 shares in the last quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP increased its position in shares of Axalta Coating Systems by 4.2% in the third quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 2,096,790 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $75,883,000 after purchasing an additional 84,594 shares during the last quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. raised its stake in Axalta Coating Systems by 11.5% in the third quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 1,991,660 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $72,078,000 after purchasing an additional 205,085 shares in the last quarter. Finally, PointState Capital LP bought a new stake in Axalta Coating Systems during the third quarter valued at approximately $30,257,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.28% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AXTA has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. StockNews.com lowered shares of Axalta Coating Systems from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Evercore ISI initiated coverage on shares of Axalta Coating Systems in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $47.00 target price for the company. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on Axalta Coating Systems from $46.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. Barclays upped their price objective on Axalta Coating Systems from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price objective on Axalta Coating Systems from $44.00 to $42.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $43.08.

Axalta Coating Systems Price Performance

AXTA opened at $36.35 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $35.81 and its 200-day moving average price is $36.63. Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. has a 52-week low of $30.41 and a 52-week high of $41.65. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.93 billion, a PE ratio of 20.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 1.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a current ratio of 2.01.

Axalta Coating Systems (NYSE:AXTA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $1.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.31 billion. Axalta Coating Systems had a net margin of 7.41% and a return on equity of 26.29%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.43 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. will post 2.55 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Troy D. Weaver sold 10,457 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.57, for a total value of $392,869.49. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 74,905 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,814,180.85. This represents a 12.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Axalta Coating Systems Company Profile

Axalta Coating Systems Ltd., through its subsidiaries, manufactures, markets, and distributes high-performance coatings systems in North America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Asia Pacific, and Latin America. The company operates through two segments, Performance Coatings and Mobility Coatings.