Wells Fargo & Company Cuts Axalta Coating Systems (NYSE:AXTA) Price Target to $42.00

Axalta Coating Systems (NYSE:AXTA) had its price objective reduced by Wells Fargo & Company from $45.00 to $42.00 in a report issued on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have an equal weight rating on the specialty chemicals company’s stock.

Several other equities analysts also recently weighed in on AXTA. Mizuho reduced their target price on Axalta Coating Systems from $43.00 to $41.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. KeyCorp reiterated a “sector weight” rating on shares of Axalta Coating Systems in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered 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 report on Thursday, December 19th. Wolfe Research raised shares of Axalta Coating Systems from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $41.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Citigroup cut shares of Axalta Coating Systems from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $45.00 to $41.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $43.00.

Axalta Coating Systems Price Performance

AXTA stock opened at $29.73 on Thursday. 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 has a 1 year low of $28.95 and a 1 year high of $41.66. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $35.41 and its 200 day moving average price is $36.47. The firm has a market cap of $6.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.70, a PEG ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 1.33.

Axalta Coating Systems (NYSE:AXTA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.09. The business 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 company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.43 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Axalta Coating Systems will post 2.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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 shares were sold at an average price of $37.57, for a total transaction of $392,869.49. Following the sale, the insider now owns 74,905 shares in the company, valued at $2,814,180.85. This trade represents a 12.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Axalta Coating Systems

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AXTA. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC grew its stake in Axalta Coating Systems by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 23,951 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $820,000 after purchasing an additional 323 shares in the last quarter. Principal Securities Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Axalta Coating Systems by 5.5% during the 4th quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 6,378 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $218,000 after buying an additional 332 shares during the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc grew its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 334 shares in the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Axalta Coating Systems by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 12,242 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $419,000 after purchasing an additional 343 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Optas LLC raised 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 purchasing an additional 412 shares in the last quarter. 98.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.