Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. (NYSE:AXTA) Short Interest Down 11.1% in August

Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. (NYSE:AXTA) was the target of a large decrease in short interest in August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 5,040,000 shares, a decrease of 11.1% from the August 15th total of 5,670,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,800,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.8 days. Currently, 2.3% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Axalta Coating Systems

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Norges Bank bought a new position in Axalta Coating Systems in the 4th quarter worth $82,878,000. Millennium Management LLC raised its stake in Axalta Coating Systems by 89.7% during the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 2,733,703 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $93,411,000 after purchasing an additional 1,292,434 shares during the last quarter. Locust Wood Capital Advisers LLC lifted its stake in shares of Axalta Coating Systems by 63.8% in the first quarter. Locust Wood Capital Advisers LLC now owns 3,198,290 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $109,989,000 after buying an additional 1,245,223 shares during the period. Interval Partners LP grew its holdings in shares of Axalta Coating Systems by 716.6% during the 2nd quarter. Interval Partners LP now owns 1,224,961 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $41,857,000 after purchasing an additional 1,074,961 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Axalta Coating Systems by 2.4% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 23,763,601 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $817,230,000 after buying an additional 554,806 shares in the last quarter. 98.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AXTA has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on shares of Axalta Coating Systems from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Axalta Coating Systems from $39.00 to $38.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Axalta Coating Systems from $40.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Axalta Coating Systems from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Axalta Coating Systems from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Axalta Coating Systems presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $41.00.

Axalta Coating Systems Stock Up 1.6 %

Shares of AXTA traded up $0.57 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $35.73. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 581,952 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,991,690. The company has a quick ratio of 1.70, a current ratio of 2.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.97. The firm has a market cap of $7.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.10, a P/E/G ratio of 0.81 and a beta of 1.44. The company has a 50 day moving average of $34.96 and a two-hundred day moving average of $34.34. Axalta Coating Systems has a 1-year low of $25.03 and a 1-year high of $37.49.

Axalta Coating Systems (NYSE:AXTA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.06. Axalta Coating Systems had a return on equity of 24.28% and a net margin of 5.69%. The business had revenue of $1.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.34 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.35 earnings per share. Axalta Coating Systems’s quarterly revenue was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Axalta Coating Systems will post 2.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Axalta Coating Systems Company 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.