Graham Capital Management L.P. Lowers Stock Holdings in Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. (NYSE:AXTA)

Graham Capital Management L.P. trimmed its holdings in shares of Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. (NYSE:AXTA - Free Report) by 43.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 103,763 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock after selling 80,304 shares during the period. Graham Capital Management L.P.'s holdings in Axalta Coating Systems were worth $3,551,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC grew its stake in shares of Axalta Coating Systems by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 23,951 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $820,000 after acquiring an additional 323 shares in the last quarter. Principal Securities Inc. grew its stake in shares of Axalta Coating Systems by 5.5% during the fourth quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 6,378 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $218,000 after buying an additional 332 shares during the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc grew its holdings in shares of 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 grew its holdings in Axalta Coating Systems by 7.3% during the 4th quarter. Optas LLC now owns 6,024 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $206,000 after acquiring an additional 412 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV increased its holdings in Axalta Coating Systems by 3.3% in 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 period. 98.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group cut 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. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Axalta Coating Systems from $45.00 to $42.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Citigroup decreased their target price on Axalta Coating Systems from $42.00 to $32.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Wolfe Research raised shares of Axalta Coating Systems from a "peer perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $41.00 target price for the company in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered 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. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Axalta Coating Systems currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $40.38.

Axalta Coating Systems Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AXTA traded down $0.07 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $32.31. 575,930 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,019,563. Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. has a 1 year low of $27.70 and a 1 year high of $41.66. The company has a market capitalization of $7.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.16, a PEG ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74, a current ratio of 2.01 and a quick ratio of 1.47. The company's 50-day moving average is $32.33 and its two-hundred day moving average is $35.48.

Axalta Coating Systems (NYSE:AXTA - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.59 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.54 by $0.05. Axalta Coating Systems had a return on equity of 26.29% and a net margin of 7.41%. The firm had revenue of $1.29 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.29 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.48 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. will post 2.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Axalta Coating Systems 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.