Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. (NYSE:AXTA) Shares Acquired by Crestline Management LP

Crestline Management LP boosted its stake in Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. (NYSE:AXTA) by 58.4% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 15,483 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,707 shares during the period. Crestline Management LP’s holdings in Axalta Coating Systems were worth $530,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AXTA. Oak Thistle LLC increased its holdings in shares of Axalta Coating Systems by 434.3% in the fourth quarter. Oak Thistle LLC now owns 39,535 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $1,353,000 after purchasing an additional 32,135 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. raised its holdings in Axalta Coating Systems by 57.8% during the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 356,017 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $12,183,000 after purchasing an additional 130,427 shares in the last quarter. Principal Securities Inc. lifted its position in Axalta Coating Systems by 5.5% in the fourth quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 6,378 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $218,000 after purchasing an additional 332 shares during the period. Barclays PLC increased its position in Axalta Coating Systems by 50.4% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 154,483 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $5,589,000 after purchasing an additional 51,748 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in shares of Axalta Coating Systems by 62.7% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 138,081 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $5,097,000 after buying an additional 53,222 shares in the last quarter. 98.28% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Axalta Coating Systems Stock Performance

Shares of AXTA stock opened at $31.08 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.01, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74. The company has a market cap of $6.79 billion, a PE ratio of 17.46, a P/E/G ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 1.35. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $32.50 and its 200-day simple moving average is $35.55. Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. has a 52 week low of $27.70 and a 52 week high of $41.66.

Axalta Coating Systems (NYSE:AXTA) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.59 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.54 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $1.29 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.29 billion. Axalta Coating Systems had a return on equity of 26.29% and a net margin of 7.41%. The company’s revenue was down 2.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.48 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. will post 2.55 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Troy D. Weaver sold 10,457 shares of Axalta Coating Systems stock in a transaction on Monday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.57, for a total value of $392,869.49. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 74,905 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,814,180.85. The trade was a 12.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have commented on AXTA. BNP Paribas raised Axalta Coating Systems from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $38.00 target price for the company in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Axalta Coating Systems from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Axalta Coating Systems from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $41.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 17th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Axalta Coating Systems from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on Axalta Coating Systems from $40.00 to $36.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Axalta Coating Systems has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $40.60.

Axalta Coating Systems 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.