Axalta Coating Systems (NYSE:AXTA) Sets New 52-Week High After Analyst Upgrade

Shares of Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. (NYSE:AXTA) reached a new 52-week high during trading on Wednesday after BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on the stock from $46.00 to $48.00. BMO Capital Markets currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Axalta Coating Systems traded as high as $40.53 and last traded at $40.41, with a volume of 243697 shares. The stock had previously closed at $39.60.

Other equities analysts have also issued reports about the stock. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Axalta Coating Systems from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. KeyCorp increased their price target on shares of Axalta Coating Systems from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Mizuho raised their price objective on Axalta Coating Systems from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on shares of Axalta Coating Systems from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Axalta Coating Systems from $40.00 to $41.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $42.45.

Institutional Trading of Axalta Coating Systems

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in AXTA. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Axalta Coating Systems by 2.4% during 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 acquiring an additional 554,806 shares in the last quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC increased its stake in Axalta Coating Systems by 0.9% during the 2nd quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 15,009,959 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $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% in the second quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 10,403,246 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $355,479,000 after purchasing an additional 550,970 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Axalta Coating Systems by 8.7% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,771,023 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $128,852,000 after buying an additional 302,752 shares during the period. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its holdings in Axalta Coating Systems by 19.5% during the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 2,914,764 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $99,597,000 after acquiring an additional 475,493 shares in the last quarter. 98.28% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Axalta Coating Systems Trading Up 0.1 %

The stock has a market cap of $8.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.43, a P/E/G ratio of 0.85 and a beta of 1.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a current ratio of 2.00 and a quick ratio of 1.42. The business’s 50 day moving average is $36.56 and its 200 day moving average is $35.54.

Axalta Coating Systems (NYSE:AXTA) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.59 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by $0.08. Axalta Coating Systems had a net margin of 6.22% and a return on equity of 24.92%. The firm had revenue of $1.32 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.32 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.45 EPS. The company’s revenue was up .8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. will post 2.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Axalta Coating Systems Company Profile

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.