Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. (NYSE:AXTA) Shares Bought by Cerity Partners LLC

Cerity Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. (NYSE:AXTA) by 219.6% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 88,514 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after acquiring an additional 60,815 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC’s holdings in Axalta Coating Systems were worth $2,936,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of AXTA. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Axalta Coating Systems during the 4th quarter worth about $87,850,000. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in Axalta Coating Systems by 54.9% during the fourth quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 5,587,090 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $191,190,000 after buying an additional 1,980,296 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new position in Axalta Coating Systems during the first quarter valued at approximately $55,876,000. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. purchased a new stake in Axalta Coating Systems during the fourth quarter worth approximately $56,215,000. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG increased its position in shares of Axalta Coating Systems by 144.7% in the fourth quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 1,950,902 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $66,760,000 after acquiring an additional 1,153,620 shares in the last quarter. 98.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Axalta Coating Systems Stock Performance

AXTA opened at $29.71 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.12, a quick ratio of 1.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60. The business’s 50 day moving average is $30.67 and its 200-day moving average is $32.99. The stock has a market cap of $6.49 billion, a PE ratio of 14.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 1.25. Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. has a twelve month low of $27.70 and a twelve month high of $41.66.

Axalta Coating Systems (NYSE:AXTA) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.59 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.54 by $0.05. Axalta Coating Systems had a return on equity of 26.30% and a net margin of 8.56%. The firm had revenue of $1.29 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.29 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.48 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. will post 2.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on AXTA. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Axalta Coating Systems from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Axalta Coating Systems from $40.00 to $39.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft downgraded Axalta Coating Systems from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $32.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut Axalta Coating Systems from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $42.00 to $32.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, Citigroup reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $34.00 price target (down previously from $35.00) on shares of Axalta Coating Systems in a report on Friday, June 13th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $38.80.

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.