LMR Partners LLP Buys 6,012 Shares of Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. (NYSE:AXTA)

LMR Partners LLP boosted its stake in shares of Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. (NYSE:AXTA) by 60.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 15,983 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,012 shares during the period. LMR Partners LLP’s holdings in Axalta Coating Systems were worth $547,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Axalta Coating Systems by 116.3% in the 4th quarter. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC now owns 824 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 443 shares during the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its stake in shares of Axalta Coating Systems by 60.7% in the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 1,318 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 498 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. increased its stake in shares of Axalta Coating Systems by 35.4% in the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 2,093 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $72,000 after purchasing an additional 547 shares during the last quarter. 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 purchasing an additional 1,365 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Venturi Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Axalta Coating Systems by 31.4% in the 4th quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,581 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $88,000 after purchasing an additional 617 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.28% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on AXTA. Mizuho set a $37.00 price objective on Axalta Coating Systems in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on Axalta Coating Systems from $46.00 to $40.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Wolfe Research raised Axalta Coating Systems from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $41.00 target price on the stock in a report on Friday, January 17th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Axalta Coating Systems from $40.00 to $36.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded Axalta Coating Systems from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $42.00 to $32.00 in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $40.56.

Axalta Coating Systems Stock Down 0.6%

Shares of NYSE:AXTA opened at $32.84 on Thursday. Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. has a 1 year low of $27.70 and a 1 year high of $41.66. The company has a market capitalization of $7.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.45, a P/E/G ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 1.35. The business’s 50-day moving average is $32.36 and its 200-day moving average is $35.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74, a current ratio of 2.01 and a quick ratio of 1.47.

Axalta Coating Systems (NYSE:AXTA) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.59 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.54 by $0.05. Axalta Coating Systems had a return on equity of 26.29% and a net margin of 7.41%. The business had revenue of $1.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.29 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.48 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 2.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict 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.