Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank Raises Position in Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. (NYSE:AXTA)

Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its holdings in Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. (NYSE:AXTA) by 19.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 54,448 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after acquiring an additional 8,761 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank’s holdings in Axalta Coating Systems were worth $1,863,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. First Horizon Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in 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 during the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC raised its holdings in 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 during the last quarter. Principal Securities Inc. raised its holdings in 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 during the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc increased its holdings in shares of Axalta Coating Systems by 5.2% during the 4th quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 6,744 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $231,000 after buying an additional 334 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Optas LLC increased its holdings in shares of Axalta Coating Systems by 7.3% during the 4th quarter. Optas LLC now owns 6,024 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $206,000 after buying an additional 412 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.28% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on AXTA. Mizuho cut their price target on shares of Axalta Coating Systems from $43.00 to $41.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Citigroup downgraded shares of Axalta Coating Systems from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $45.00 to $41.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut 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 report on Thursday, December 19th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Axalta Coating Systems from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $41.00 price target for the company in a report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Barclays raised their price target 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. Three research 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $43.08.

Insider Buying and Selling at Axalta Coating Systems

In other news, insider Troy D. Weaver sold 10,457 shares of Axalta Coating Systems stock in a transaction 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,814,180.85. The trade was a 12.25 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Axalta Coating Systems Stock Performance

NYSE:AXTA opened at $35.10 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a current ratio of 2.01. Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. has a fifty-two week low of $30.41 and a fifty-two week high of $41.66. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.72, a PEG ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $35.98 and a 200 day moving average price of $36.65.

Axalta Coating Systems (NYSE:AXTA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 analysts’ expectations of $1.31 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.43 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 1.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. will post 2.55 EPS for the current 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.