Principal Financial Group Inc. Lowers Stock Holdings in Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. (NYSE:AXTA)

Principal Financial Group Inc. reduced its position in Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. (NYSE:AXTA) by 1.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 809,542 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 9,515 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Axalta Coating Systems were worth $27,500,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Axalta Coating Systems by 4.3% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 22,886,402 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $615,644,000 after acquiring an additional 949,673 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in Axalta Coating Systems by 11.7% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 13,470,860 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $362,366,000 after acquiring an additional 1,415,723 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in Axalta Coating Systems by 1,856.6% in the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,866,601 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $199,288,000 after acquiring an additional 5,566,757 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in Axalta Coating Systems by 9.0% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,657,696 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $125,292,000 after acquiring an additional 382,949 shares during the period. Finally, Pzena Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Axalta Coating Systems by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 3,825,560 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $102,908,000 after buying an additional 73,604 shares during the period. 98.28% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Axalta Coating Systems from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Axalta Coating Systems from $39.00 to $42.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Mizuho lowered their price objective on shares of Axalta Coating Systems from $40.00 to $38.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of Axalta Coating Systems in a research note on Friday, March 1st. They set a “peer perform” rating for the company. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Axalta Coating Systems from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $38.00.

Axalta Coating Systems Stock Performance

Shares of AXTA stock opened at $35.64 on Friday. Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. has a 12 month low of $25.03 and a 12 month high of $36.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.92, a current ratio of 2.07 and a quick ratio of 1.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.11, a P/E/G ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 1.51. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $33.51 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $32.62.

Axalta Coating Systems (NYSE:AXTA) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.40 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $1.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.29 billion. Axalta Coating Systems had a net margin of 4.77% and a return on equity of 21.82%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.35 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. will post 1.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.