Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH Purchases Shares of 70,509 Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. (NYSE:AXTA)

Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH bought a new stake in shares of Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. (NYSE:AXTA - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 70,509 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock, valued at approximately $2,413,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its holdings in shares of 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 worth $45,000 after buying an additional 498 shares in the last quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd grew its stake in shares of Axalta Coating Systems by 156.4% in the fourth quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd now owns 2,238 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $77,000 after buying an additional 1,365 shares in the last quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Axalta Coating Systems by 31.4% during the fourth quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,581 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $88,000 after purchasing an additional 617 shares in the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC grew its stake in shares of Axalta Coating Systems by 54.7% in the fourth quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 3,270 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $112,000 after acquiring an additional 1,156 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Axalta Coating Systems by 1,584.8% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 4,313 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $148,000 after buying an additional 4,057 shares during the period. 98.28% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Axalta Coating Systems Stock Performance

NYSE:AXTA traded up $0.03 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $30.68. The company had a trading volume of 2,089,807 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,043,402. The company has a current ratio of 2.01, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74. Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. has a 52 week low of $27.70 and a 52 week high of $41.66. The firm has a market cap of $6.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.24, a PEG ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 1.35. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $31.61 and its 200-day moving average price is $34.76.

Axalta Coating Systems (NYSE:AXTA - Get Free Report) last released 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. The firm had revenue of $1.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.29 billion. Axalta Coating Systems had a net margin of 7.41% and a return on equity of 26.29%. The business's revenue was down 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.48 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. will post 2.55 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on AXTA. Mizuho set a $37.00 price objective on Axalta Coating Systems in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on Axalta Coating Systems from $46.00 to $40.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. BNP Paribas upgraded Axalta Coating Systems from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $38.00 target price on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded Axalta Coating Systems from an "overweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $42.00 to $32.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target 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. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Axalta Coating Systems presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $40.38.

About Axalta Coating Systems

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.