Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. (NYSE:AXTA) Short Interest Update

Key Points

• Short interest surged 29.4% to 7,826,959 shares as of March 31 (about 3.7% of shares outstanding), leaving a days-to-cover ratio of roughly 2.6 based on average daily volume.
• Analyst sentiment is cautious: the consensus rating is "Hold" with an average target of $35.40, and Wells Fargo recently downgraded AXTA from Overweight to Equal Weight while cutting its target to $30.
• Trading and fundamentals: the stock opened at $28.09 and trades below its 50- and 200-day averages (~$30.15/$30.32), has a market cap near $6.0B, reported a slight quarterly EPS miss and set Q1 guidance around $0.50.

Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. (NYSE:AXTA - Get Free Report) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest during the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totaling 7,826,959 shares, a growth of 29.4% from the March 15th total of 6,048,490 shares. Approximately 3.7% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 3,003,570 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.6 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on AXTA. BMO Capital Markets reissued a "market perform" rating and set a $35.00 price objective on shares of Axalta Coating Systems in a report on Wednesday, February 11th. Weiss Ratings reissued a "hold (c)" rating on shares of Axalta Coating Systems in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. KeyCorp reaffirmed a "sector weight" rating on shares of Axalta Coating Systems in a report on Wednesday, February 11th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered shares of Axalta Coating Systems from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and lowered their price target for the company from $39.00 to $30.00 in a report on Friday, April 10th. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $37.00 price target on shares of Axalta Coating Systems in a report on Wednesday, February 11th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and thirteen have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $35.40.

Axalta Coating Systems Trading Down 2.3%

Shares of Axalta Coating Systems stock opened at $28.09 on Thursday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $30.15 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $30.32. The company has a market cap of $5.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.33. Axalta Coating Systems has a fifty-two week low of $24.94 and a fifty-two week high of $35.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.33, a quick ratio of 1.50 and a current ratio of 2.06.

Axalta Coating Systems (NYSE:AXTA - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 10th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.59 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.60 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $1.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.27 billion. Axalta Coating Systems had a return on equity of 23.60% and a net margin of 7.39%.The company's revenue was down 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.60 EPS. Axalta Coating Systems has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 0.500-0.50 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Axalta Coating Systems will post 2.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of AXTA. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC raised its position in shares of Axalta Coating Systems by 11.6% during the 4th quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 17,456,984 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $564,035,000 after purchasing an additional 1,815,715 shares during the last quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership raised its position in shares of Axalta Coating Systems by 887.2% during the 4th quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 12,575,932 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $406,328,000 after purchasing an additional 11,301,977 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC raised its position in shares of Axalta Coating Systems by 475.3% during the 3rd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 7,838,111 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $224,327,000 after purchasing an additional 6,475,786 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of Axalta Coating Systems by 36.2% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,941,250 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $224,282,000 after purchasing an additional 1,845,353 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Axalta Coating Systems by 64.9% during the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 3,825,946 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $107,739,000 after purchasing an additional 1,506,083 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.28% of the company's stock.

About Axalta Coating Systems

Axalta Coating Systems is a global leader in the development, manufacture and sale of liquid and powder coatings. The company's product portfolio spans refinish coatings for the automotive collision repair market, original equipment manufacturer (OEM) coatings for new vehicle production, and industrial coatings including electrodeposition (E-coat) and powder coatings for a variety of sectors such as architecture, heavy equipment and general industrial applications.

Tracing its roots to the 19th century and rebranded as Axalta following its separation from DuPont Performance Coatings in 2013, the company has built a presence in more than 100 countries.

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