Sciencast Management LP Lowers Stock Position in Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. (NYSE:AXTA)

Sciencast Management LP lowered its position in Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. (NYSE:AXTA) by 53.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 35,934 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 41,807 shares during the period. Sciencast Management LP’s holdings in Axalta Coating Systems were worth $1,230,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Axalta Coating Systems by 0.9% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,669,190 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $132,823,000 after purchasing an additional 31,894 shares during the last quarter. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Axalta Coating Systems by 68.4% in the third quarter. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd now owns 36,191 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $1,310,000 after purchasing an additional 14,704 shares during the last quarter. Oak Thistle LLC raised its holdings in shares of Axalta Coating Systems by 434.3% in the fourth quarter. Oak Thistle LLC now owns 39,535 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $1,353,000 after purchasing an additional 32,135 shares during the last quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC increased its holdings in Axalta Coating Systems by 5.8% during the third quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC now owns 445,836 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $16,135,000 after buying an additional 24,402 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Securities Inc. increased its holdings in Axalta Coating Systems by 5.5% during the fourth quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 6,378 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $218,000 after buying an additional 332 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.28% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently issued reports on AXTA. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Axalta Coating Systems from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Axalta Coating Systems from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. Citigroup downgraded shares of Axalta Coating Systems from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $45.00 to $41.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. KeyCorp reiterated a “sector weight” rating on shares of Axalta Coating Systems in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their target price 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $43.08.

Insider Buying and Selling at Axalta Coating Systems

In other Axalta Coating Systems news, insider Troy D. Weaver sold 10,457 shares of Axalta Coating Systems stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.57, for a total transaction of $392,869.49. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 74,905 shares in the company, valued at $2,814,180.85. The trade was a 12.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Axalta Coating Systems Price Performance

AXTA stock opened at $33.84 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $35.98 and a 200-day moving average of $36.59. The company has a current ratio of 2.01, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74. Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. has a 12 month low of $30.41 and a 12 month high of $41.66. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 1.45.

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