Wedge Capital Management L L P NC Raises Stock Holdings in Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. (NYSE:AXTA)

Wedge Capital Management L L P NC grew its holdings in shares of Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. (NYSE:AXTA - Free Report) by 12.3% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 103,826 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock after buying an additional 11,346 shares during the period. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC's holdings in Axalta Coating Systems were worth $3,444,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of AXTA. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Axalta Coating Systems by 9.6% in the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 11,321,994 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $387,439,000 after purchasing an additional 988,397 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in Axalta Coating Systems by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 11,280,882 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $386,032,000 after acquiring an additional 50,520 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in Axalta Coating Systems by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 6,598,172 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $225,789,000 after acquiring an additional 82,200 shares in the last quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in Axalta Coating Systems by 54.9% during the 4th quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 5,587,090 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $191,190,000 after acquiring an additional 1,980,296 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Axalta Coating Systems by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,874,038 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $132,568,000 after acquiring an additional 93,298 shares in the last quarter. 98.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Axalta Coating Systems Stock Performance

AXTA traded down $1.39 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $28.77. The stock had a trading volume of 2,786,139 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,046,877. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $31.41 and its 200 day simple moving average is $34.34. Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. has a 1 year low of $27.70 and a 1 year high of $41.66. The stock has a market cap of $6.29 billion, a PE ratio of 16.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a quick ratio of 1.47, a current ratio of 2.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74.

Axalta Coating Systems (NYSE:AXTA - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.59 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.54 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $1.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.29 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 down 2.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.48 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. will post 2.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have weighed in on AXTA. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on Axalta Coating Systems from $46.00 to $40.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Axalta Coating Systems from $40.00 to $36.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on Axalta Coating Systems from $35.00 to $34.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered Axalta Coating Systems from an "overweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and decreased their target price for the company from $42.00 to $32.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Axalta Coating Systems from $37.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $40.50.

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.