Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. (NYSE:AXTA) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. (NYSE:AXTA) has received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the thirteen research firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, eight have assigned a buy recommendation and two have assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $43.08.

Several research analysts have commented on AXTA shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price target on shares of Axalta Coating Systems from $44.00 to $42.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Mizuho decreased their target price on shares of Axalta Coating Systems from $43.00 to $41.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. KeyCorp restated a “sector weight” rating on shares of Axalta Coating Systems in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Barclays lifted their price objective on Axalta Coating Systems from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Axalta Coating Systems from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 28th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Axalta Coating Systems

In other Axalta Coating Systems news, insider Troy D. Weaver sold 10,457 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the insider now owns 74,905 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,814,180.85. This represents a 12.25 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in AXTA. Norges Bank bought a new position in Axalta Coating Systems in the fourth quarter worth $87,850,000. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Axalta Coating Systems by 54.9% in the 4th quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 5,587,090 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $191,190,000 after acquiring an additional 1,980,296 shares in the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. purchased a new position in Axalta Coating Systems during the 4th quarter valued at about $56,215,000. Deutsche Bank AG boosted its stake in Axalta Coating Systems by 144.7% during the fourth quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 1,950,902 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $66,760,000 after acquiring an additional 1,153,620 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in Axalta Coating Systems by 9.6% in the fourth 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 during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.28% of the company’s stock.

Axalta Coating Systems Stock Performance

NYSE AXTA opened at $32.87 on Friday. Axalta Coating Systems has a 52-week low of $30.41 and a 52-week high of $41.66. The company has a fifty day moving average of $35.84 and a 200-day moving average of $36.54. The company has a market capitalization of $7.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.46, a P/E/G ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a current ratio of 2.01.

Axalta Coating Systems (NYSE:AXTA) last issued its quarterly 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. The firm had revenue of $1.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.31 billion. Axalta Coating Systems had a return on equity of 26.29% and a net margin of 7.41%. The company’s revenue was up 1.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.43 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Axalta Coating Systems will post 2.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.