Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. (NYSE:AXTA) Stock Position Reduced by Ariel Investments LLC

Ariel Investments LLC trimmed its holdings in Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. (NYSE:AXTA - Free Report) by 2.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,213,212 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock after selling 120,876 shares during the period. Ariel Investments LLC owned about 1.93% of Axalta Coating Systems worth $144,176,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC lifted its holdings in Axalta Coating Systems by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 23,951 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $820,000 after buying an additional 323 shares during the last quarter. Principal Securities Inc. raised its position in shares of Axalta Coating Systems by 5.5% during the 4th quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 6,378 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $218,000 after acquiring an additional 332 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc lifted its stake in Axalta Coating Systems by 5.2% during the fourth quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 6,744 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $231,000 after purchasing an additional 334 shares during the last quarter. Optas LLC boosted its holdings in Axalta Coating Systems by 7.3% in the fourth quarter. Optas LLC now owns 6,024 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $206,000 after purchasing an additional 412 shares during the period. Finally, Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV increased its stake in Axalta Coating Systems by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 13,691 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $469,000 after purchasing an additional 431 shares during the last quarter. 98.28% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AXTA has been the subject of several research reports. Mizuho set a $37.00 price target on shares of Axalta Coating Systems in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Axalta Coating Systems from $42.00 to $37.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Citigroup cut their price target on Axalta Coating Systems from $42.00 to $32.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. BNP Paribas upgraded Axalta Coating Systems from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $38.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised 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. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Axalta Coating Systems currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $41.36.

Axalta Coating Systems Price Performance

Shares of AXTA traded up $0.11 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $33.27. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,501,604 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,983,765. Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. has a fifty-two week low of $27.70 and a fifty-two week high of $41.66. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.69, a PEG ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 1.35. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $32.79 and a 200 day moving average price of $35.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74, a current ratio of 2.01 and a quick ratio of 1.47.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Troy D. Weaver sold 10,457 shares of the 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 completion of the sale, the insider now owns 74,905 shares in the company, valued at $2,814,180.85. This represents a 12.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.