Blueshift Asset Management LLC Lowers Holdings in Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. (NYSE:AXTA)

Blueshift Asset Management LLC trimmed its holdings in Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. (NYSE:AXTA) by 27.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 12,109 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 4,530 shares during the quarter. Blueshift Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Axalta Coating Systems were worth $414,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AXTA. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted 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 valued at $387,439,000 after purchasing an additional 988,397 shares during the last quarter. PointState Capital LP purchased a new stake in Axalta Coating Systems in the third quarter valued at $30,257,000. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. boosted its holdings in Axalta Coating Systems by 35.4% in the fourth quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. now owns 1,620,459 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $55,452,000 after purchasing an additional 423,883 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its holdings in Axalta Coating Systems by 151.7% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 633,017 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $22,909,000 after purchasing an additional 381,488 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Atom Investors LP boosted its holdings in Axalta Coating Systems by 198.6% in the third quarter. Atom Investors LP now owns 380,616 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $13,774,000 after purchasing an additional 253,142 shares during the last quarter. 98.28% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Axalta Coating Systems

In other Axalta Coating Systems news, insider Troy D. Weaver sold 10,457 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.57, for a total value of $392,869.49. Following the completion of the sale, 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. 0.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Axalta Coating Systems Stock Down 1.2 %

AXTA stock opened at $34.05 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $7.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.13, a PEG ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a current ratio of 2.01, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74. Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. has a 12 month low of $30.41 and a 12 month high of $41.66. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $35.98 and a two-hundred day moving average of $36.60.

Axalta Coating Systems (NYSE:AXTA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $1.31 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 quarterly revenue was up 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.43 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. will post 2.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have weighed in on AXTA. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Axalta Coating Systems from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Axalta Coating Systems from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $41.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Citigroup downgraded shares of Axalta Coating Systems from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $45.00 to $41.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price objective on shares of 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. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Axalta Coating Systems from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Axalta Coating Systems currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $43.08.

Axalta Coating Systems 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.