Principal Securities Inc. Buys 332 Shares of Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. (NYSE:AXTA)

Principal Securities Inc. boosted its holdings in Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. (NYSE:AXTA) by 5.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,378 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after acquiring an additional 332 shares during the period. Principal Securities Inc.’s holdings in Axalta Coating Systems were worth $218,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Rhumbline Advisers raised its stake in Axalta Coating Systems by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 579,424 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $19,828,000 after acquiring an additional 13,483 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. raised its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 4,057 shares during the period. New York State Teachers Retirement System raised its stake in Axalta Coating Systems by 10.5% in the 4th quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 69,447 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $2,376,000 after acquiring an additional 6,603 shares during the period. Savant Capital LLC raised its stake in Axalta Coating Systems by 7.1% in the 4th quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 28,304 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $969,000 after acquiring an additional 1,885 shares during the period. Finally, Entropy Technologies LP raised its stake in Axalta Coating Systems by 102.3% in the 4th quarter. Entropy Technologies LP now owns 11,739 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $402,000 after acquiring an additional 5,935 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 98.28% of the company’s stock.

Axalta Coating Systems Stock Performance

AXTA opened at $36.02 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $7.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 1.46. Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. has a 52-week low of $30.41 and a 52-week high of $41.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a current ratio of 2.01. The business’s fifty day moving average is $35.84 and its 200-day moving average is $36.61.

Axalta Coating Systems (NYSE:AXTA) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.09. Axalta Coating Systems had a return on equity of 26.29% and a net margin of 7.41%. The company had revenue of $1.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.31 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.43 EPS. Axalta Coating Systems’s quarterly revenue was up 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. will post 2.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Axalta Coating Systems from $46.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price objective on Axalta Coating Systems from $44.00 to $42.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Mizuho decreased their price objective on Axalta Coating Systems from $43.00 to $41.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. KeyCorp reaffirmed a “sector weight” rating on shares of Axalta Coating Systems in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Citigroup lowered Axalta Coating Systems from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $45.00 to $41.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Axalta Coating Systems presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $43.08.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Troy D. Weaver sold 10,457 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.57, for a total transaction of $392,869.49. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 74,905 shares in the company, valued at $2,814,180.85. This represents a 12.25 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.