HighTower Advisors LLC Has $283,000 Stake in Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. (NYSE:AXTA)

HighTower Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. (NYSE:AXTA) by 8.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 8,270 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after acquiring an additional 639 shares during the quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in Axalta Coating Systems were worth $283,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Axalta Coating Systems by 116.3% during the 4th quarter. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC now owns 824 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 443 shares in the last quarter. Millburn Ridgefield Corp acquired a new position in shares of Axalta Coating Systems in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $41,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its holdings in Axalta Coating Systems by 60.7% in the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 1,318 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $45,000 after buying an additional 498 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. grew its stake in Axalta Coating Systems by 35.4% during the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 2,093 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $72,000 after purchasing an additional 547 shares during the period. Finally, Plato Investment Management Ltd increased its stake in shares of Axalta Coating Systems by 156.4% in the 4th quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd now owns 2,238 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $77,000 after acquiring an additional 1,365 shares in the last quarter. 98.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Troy D. Weaver sold 10,457 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.57, for a total transaction of $392,869.49. Following the sale, the insider now owns 74,905 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,814,180.85. The trade was a 12.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have commented on AXTA shares. Citigroup cut Axalta Coating Systems from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $45.00 to $41.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. StockNews.com lowered Axalta Coating Systems from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their target price on Axalta Coating Systems from $44.00 to $42.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Mizuho lowered 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 report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Axalta Coating Systems from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $41.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $43.08.

Axalta Coating Systems Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:AXTA opened at $33.87 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $7.39 billion, a PE ratio of 19.03, a PEG ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 1.45. Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. has a 52 week low of $30.41 and a 52 week high of $41.66. The company’s fifty day moving average is $35.65 and its 200 day moving average is $36.54. 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) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $1.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.31 billion. Axalta Coating Systems had a net margin of 7.41% and a return on equity of 26.29%. Axalta Coating Systems’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.43 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. will post 2.55 earnings per share for the current 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.