Strs Ohio Trims Stock Holdings in Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. (NYSE:AXTA)

Strs Ohio reduced its holdings in shares of Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. (NYSE:AXTA) by 22.7% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 47,777 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 14,050 shares during the quarter. Strs Ohio’s holdings in Axalta Coating Systems were worth $1,622,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of AXTA. US Bancorp DE raised its holdings in Axalta Coating Systems by 12.9% during the 1st quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 10,087 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $248,000 after acquiring an additional 1,149 shares during the period. Private Advisor Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Axalta Coating Systems by 22.9% during the 1st quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 13,931 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $342,000 after purchasing an additional 2,596 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Axalta Coating Systems by 46.5% during the 1st quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 17,585 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $433,000 after purchasing an additional 5,583 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can lifted its holdings in Axalta Coating Systems by 6.3% during the 1st quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 88,054 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $2,213,000 after purchasing an additional 5,221 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BlackRock Inc. boosted its stake in Axalta Coating Systems by 5.5% in the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 12,855,345 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $315,984,000 after purchasing an additional 674,477 shares during the period. 98.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Axalta Coating Systems Stock Performance

Shares of Axalta Coating Systems stock opened at $30.87 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.96, a current ratio of 1.98 and a quick ratio of 1.46. The stock has a market cap of $6.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.73, a PEG ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 1.51. Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. has a 1 year low of $25.03 and a 1 year high of $34.53. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $32.67 and its 200 day moving average is $31.58.

Axalta Coating Systems (NYSE:AXTA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 8th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.44 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $1.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.29 billion. Axalta Coating Systems had a net margin of 5.16% and a return on equity of 20.70%. The business’s revenue was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.38 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. will post 1.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AXTA has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Axalta Coating Systems from $31.00 to $33.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 9th. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on shares of Axalta Coating Systems in a research report on Friday, March 1st. They set a “peer perform” rating for the company. UBS Group downgraded Axalta Coating Systems from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $35.00 to $36.00 in a research report on Monday, January 8th. Citigroup boosted their target price on Axalta Coating Systems from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Axalta Coating Systems from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $35.70.

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.