Two Sigma Advisers LP Cuts Stake in Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. (NYSE:AXTA)

Two Sigma Advisers LP cut its stake in Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. (NYSE:AXTA) by 27.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 575,600 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 218,300 shares during the quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP’s holdings in Axalta Coating Systems were worth $19,697,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Barclays PLC increased its stake 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 buying an additional 51,748 shares in the last quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC boosted its stake in shares of Axalta Coating Systems by 13.3% in the fourth quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 22,872 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $783,000 after acquiring an additional 2,676 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. increased its position in shares of Axalta Coating Systems by 35.4% during the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 2,093 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $72,000 after purchasing an additional 547 shares in the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC raised its stake in Axalta Coating Systems by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 23,951 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $820,000 after purchasing an additional 323 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. raised its stake in Axalta Coating Systems by 1,748.4% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 4,732 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $171,000 after purchasing an additional 4,476 shares during the last quarter. 98.28% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AXTA has been the topic of several recent research reports. BNP Paribas raised shares of Axalta Coating Systems from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $38.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. StockNews.com cut shares of Axalta Coating Systems from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Mizuho set a $37.00 price objective on shares of Axalta Coating Systems in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Axalta Coating Systems from $37.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on Axalta Coating Systems from $46.00 to $40.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Axalta Coating Systems has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $40.38.

Axalta Coating Systems Stock Down 1.7%

AXTA stock opened at $31.31 on Thursday. Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. has a one year low of $27.70 and a one year high of $41.66. The firm has a market cap of $6.84 billion, a PE ratio of 17.59, a PEG ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 1.35. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $32.18 and its 200-day moving average price is $35.33. 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 posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.54 by $0.05. Axalta Coating Systems had a return on equity of 26.29% and a net margin of 7.41%. The company had revenue of $1.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.29 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.48 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 2.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. will post 2.55 EPS for the current year.

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.