Cooper Financial Group Purchases New Position in Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. (NYSE:AXTA)

Cooper Financial Group purchased a new stake in Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. (NYSE:AXTA) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 5,827 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock, valued at approximately $200,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Axalta Coating Systems by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 23,208,795 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $788,403,000 after purchasing an additional 322,393 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in Axalta Coating Systems by 11.7% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 13,470,860 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $362,366,000 after purchasing an additional 1,415,723 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Axalta Coating Systems by 1,856.6% in the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,866,601 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $199,288,000 after purchasing an additional 5,566,757 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in Axalta Coating Systems by 9.0% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,657,696 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $125,292,000 after purchasing an additional 382,949 shares during the period. Finally, Hawk Ridge Capital Management LP boosted its holdings in Axalta Coating Systems by 49.3% in the 3rd quarter. Hawk Ridge Capital Management LP now owns 2,952,198 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $79,414,000 after purchasing an additional 974,973 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.28% of the company’s stock.

Axalta Coating Systems Price Performance

AXTA stock opened at $34.66 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.92, a current ratio of 2.07 and a quick ratio of 1.51. Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. has a 1 year low of $25.03 and a 1 year high of $36.98. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $34.44 and a 200 day simple moving average of $33.45. The stock has a market cap of $7.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.17, a P/E/G ratio of 0.85 and a beta of 1.51.

Axalta Coating Systems (NYSE:AXTA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.40 by $0.08. Axalta Coating Systems had a net margin of 4.77% and a return on equity of 21.82%. The firm had revenue of $1.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.29 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.35 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 1.3% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. will post 1.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on AXTA. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of Axalta Coating Systems from $39.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. KeyCorp upped their price target on shares of Axalta Coating Systems from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of Axalta Coating Systems in a report on Friday, March 1st. They set a “peer perform” rating for the company. Mizuho upped their price target on shares of Axalta Coating Systems from $38.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 21st. Finally, Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Axalta Coating Systems from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $38.23.

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.