Alps Advisors Inc. Acquires New Shares in Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. (NYSE:AXTA)

Alps Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. (NYSE:AXTA - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 10,250 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock, valued at approximately $340,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Financial Management Professionals Inc. grew its stake in shares of Axalta Coating Systems by 11,757.1% in the 1st quarter. Financial Management Professionals Inc. now owns 830 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 823 shares during the last quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Axalta Coating Systems by 105.9% in the 1st quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 949 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 488 shares during the period. Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its holdings in Axalta Coating Systems by 60.7% during the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 1,318 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $45,000 after acquiring an additional 498 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. raised its holdings in Axalta Coating Systems by 31.1% during the first quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 2,744 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $91,000 after acquiring an additional 651 shares during the period. Finally, Headlands Technologies LLC grew its position in shares of Axalta Coating Systems by 54.7% during the fourth quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 3,270 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $112,000 after purchasing an additional 1,156 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.28% of the company's stock.

Axalta Coating Systems Trading Down 1.2%

AXTA stock traded down $0.36 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $29.71. 3,746,163 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,124,995. The stock's fifty day moving average is $30.67 and its 200-day moving average is $32.98. The company has a current ratio of 2.12, a quick ratio of 1.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60. The company has a market cap of $6.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.49, a P/E/G ratio of 0.83 and a beta of 1.25. 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 - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.59 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.54 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $1.29 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.29 billion. Axalta Coating Systems had a return on equity of 26.30% and a net margin of 8.56%. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 2.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.48 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. will post 2.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently weighed in on AXTA shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded shares of Axalta Coating Systems from an "overweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and dropped their target price for the company from $42.00 to $32.00 in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Axalta Coating Systems from $40.00 to $39.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 1st. Citigroup reissued a "neutral" rating and set a $34.00 price objective (down previously from $35.00) on shares of Axalta Coating Systems in a report on Friday, June 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft downgraded shares of Axalta Coating Systems from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $32.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Friday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets downgraded shares of Axalta Coating Systems from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $51.00 to $33.00 in a research note on Wednesday. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $38.80.

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.