Plato Investment Management Ltd Acquires 1,365 Shares of Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. (NYSE:AXTA)

Plato Investment Management Ltd grew its position in shares of Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. (NYSE:AXTA) by 156.4% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 2,238 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,365 shares during the quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd’s holdings in Axalta Coating Systems were worth $77,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. First Horizon Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Axalta Coating Systems by 35.2% in the 3rd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 1,021 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 266 shares in the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC increased its stake in shares of Axalta Coating Systems by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 23,951 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $820,000 after acquiring an additional 323 shares in the last quarter. Principal Securities Inc. increased its stake in shares of Axalta Coating Systems by 5.5% in the 4th quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 6,378 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $218,000 after acquiring an additional 332 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc increased its stake in shares of Axalta Coating Systems by 5.2% in the 4th quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 6,744 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $231,000 after acquiring an additional 334 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Optas LLC increased its stake in shares of Axalta Coating Systems by 7.3% in the 4th quarter. Optas LLC now owns 6,024 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $206,000 after acquiring an additional 412 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.28% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Troy D. Weaver sold 10,457 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.57, for a total value of $392,869.49. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 74,905 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,814,180.85. The trade was a 12.25 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently weighed in on AXTA shares. Evercore ISI started coverage on shares of Axalta Coating Systems in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $47.00 price objective for the company. Citigroup downgraded shares of Axalta Coating Systems from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $45.00 to $41.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Axalta Coating Systems from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Axalta Coating Systems from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price target on shares of Axalta Coating Systems from $44.00 to $42.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Axalta Coating Systems has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $43.08.

Axalta Coating Systems Price Performance

AXTA opened at $35.39 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74, a current ratio of 2.01 and a quick ratio of 1.47. The company has a market capitalization of $7.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.88, a P/E/G ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 1.45. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $35.95 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $36.69. Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. has a 1 year low of $30.41 and a 1 year high of $41.65.

Axalta Coating Systems (NYSE:AXTA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $1.31 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.31 billion. Axalta Coating Systems had a net margin of 7.41% and a return on equity of 26.29%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.43 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. will post 2.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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.