Boussard & Gavaudan Investment Management LLP Buys Shares of 244,069 Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. (NYSE:AXTA)

Boussard & Gavaudan Investment Management LLP purchased a new position in shares of Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. (NYSE:AXTA) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 244,069 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,301,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its position in Axalta Coating Systems by 9.6% during the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 11,321,994 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $387,439,000 after acquiring an additional 988,397 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in Axalta Coating Systems by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 11,280,882 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $386,032,000 after buying an additional 50,520 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in Axalta Coating Systems by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,822,955 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $246,923,000 after buying an additional 46,813 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Axalta Coating Systems by 0.9% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,669,190 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $132,823,000 after buying an additional 31,894 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Axalta Coating Systems in the fourth quarter valued at $87,850,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.28% of the company’s stock.

Axalta Coating Systems Trading Down 3.2 %

NYSE AXTA opened at $33.08 on Friday. Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. has a 52 week low of $30.41 and a 52 week high of $41.66. The stock has a market cap of $7.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.58, a PEG ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a current ratio of 2.01, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $35.91 and its 200-day simple moving average is $36.56.

Axalta Coating Systems (NYSE:AXTA) last announced its earnings results 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 business had revenue of $1.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.31 billion. Axalta Coating Systems had a return on equity of 26.29% and a net margin of 7.41%. The company’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 company earned $0.43 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. will post 2.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Axalta Coating Systems

In other news, insider Troy D. Weaver sold 10,457 shares of Axalta Coating Systems stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.57, for a total value of $392,869.49. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 74,905 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,814,180.85. This trade represents a 12.25 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently weighed in on AXTA shares. Citigroup downgraded shares of Axalta Coating Systems from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their target price for the company from $45.00 to $41.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Axalta Coating Systems from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Axalta Coating Systems from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their target price on Axalta Coating Systems from $44.00 to $42.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Mizuho decreased their price target on Axalta Coating Systems from $43.00 to $41.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $43.08.

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.