Short Interest in Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. (NYSE:AXTA) Declines By 11.1%

Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. (NYSE:AXTA) was the recipient of a large decline in short interest in the month of August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 5,040,000 shares, a decline of 11.1% from the August 15th total of 5,670,000 shares. Approximately 2.3% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,800,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.8 days.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AXTA. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Axalta Coating Systems by 2.4% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 23,763,601 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $817,230,000 after purchasing an additional 554,806 shares during the period. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC lifted its stake in Axalta Coating Systems by 0.9% in the second quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 15,009,959 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $512,890,000 after buying an additional 137,209 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Axalta Coating Systems by 5.6% during the second quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 10,403,246 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $355,479,000 after buying an additional 550,970 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in shares of Axalta Coating Systems by 8.7% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,771,023 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $128,852,000 after buying an additional 302,752 shares during the period. Finally, Locust Wood Capital Advisers LLC increased its stake in shares of Axalta Coating Systems by 63.8% in the 1st quarter. Locust Wood Capital Advisers LLC now owns 3,198,290 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $109,989,000 after acquiring an additional 1,245,223 shares during the last quarter. 98.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Axalta Coating Systems Price Performance

Shares of Axalta Coating Systems stock traded up $0.15 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $35.85. The company had a trading volume of 923,096 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,993,251. The company has a current ratio of 2.26, a quick ratio of 1.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.97. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $35.00 and a 200 day simple moving average of $34.36. Axalta Coating Systems has a 1-year low of $25.03 and a 1-year high of $37.49. The company has a market capitalization of $7.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.81 and a beta of 1.44.

Axalta Coating Systems (NYSE:AXTA) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.57 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.06. Axalta Coating Systems had a return on equity of 24.28% and a net margin of 5.69%. The company had revenue of $1.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.34 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.35 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Axalta Coating Systems will post 2.07 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have commented on AXTA shares. Mizuho raised their price target on shares of Axalta Coating Systems from $38.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 21st. Barclays upped their price target on Axalta Coating Systems from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of Axalta Coating Systems from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Axalta Coating Systems from $40.00 to $41.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, KeyCorp boosted their price target on shares of Axalta Coating Systems from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Axalta Coating Systems currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $41.00.

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.