Axalta Coating Systems (NYSE:AXTA) Rating Increased to Buy at StockNews.com

Axalta Coating Systems (NYSE:AXTA – Get Rating) was upgraded by StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a note issued to investors on Thursday.

AXTA has been the topic of a number of other reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut shares of Axalta Coating Systems from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $34.00 to $27.00 in a research note on Monday, April 18th. Royal Bank of Canada cut shares of Axalta Coating Systems from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $33.00 to $26.00 in a research note on Friday, March 25th. Zacks Investment Research upgraded shares of Axalta Coating Systems from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, April 29th. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Axalta Coating Systems from $35.00 to $34.00 in a research note on Monday, May 2nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of Axalta Coating Systems from $32.00 to $27.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 18th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $31.30.

Axalta Coating Systems stock opened at $26.99 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.63, a quick ratio of 1.30 and a current ratio of 1.87. The stock has a market cap of $5.98 billion, a PE ratio of 21.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 1.29. Axalta Coating Systems has a fifty-two week low of $21.67 and a fifty-two week high of $34.12. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $25.60 and its 200 day simple moving average is $28.30.

Axalta Coating Systems (NYSE:AXTA – Get Rating) last released its earnings results on Monday, April 25th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.26 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $1.17 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.11 billion. Axalta Coating Systems had a net margin of 6.41% and a return on equity of 22.66%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 10.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.50 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Axalta Coating Systems will post 1.78 EPS for the current fiscal year.

In related news, Director William M. Cook bought 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 4th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $24.64 per share, with a total value of $49,280.00. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 0.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its stake in shares of Axalta Coating Systems by 10.6% during the first quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 16,587,963 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $407,731,000 after purchasing an additional 1,589,343 shares during the period. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC lifted its position in shares of Axalta Coating Systems by 123.1% during the fourth quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 15,216,410 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $503,967,000 after buying an additional 8,395,583 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners lifted its position in shares of Axalta Coating Systems by 5.9% during the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 14,880,729 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $492,847,000 after buying an additional 822,960 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. lifted its position in shares of Axalta Coating Systems by 5.5% during the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 12,855,345 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $315,984,000 after buying an additional 674,477 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Shapiro Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Axalta Coating Systems by 12.8% during the first quarter. Shapiro Capital Management LLC now owns 9,477,301 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $232,952,000 after acquiring an additional 1,074,872 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.97% of the company’s stock.

Axalta Coating Systems Company Profile (Get Rating)

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. It operates through two segments, Performance Coatings and Transportation Coatings. The company offers water and solvent-borne products and systems to repair damaged vehicles for independent body shops, multi-shop operators, and original equipment manufacturer (OEM) dealership body shops.

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