Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. Trims Position in Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. (NYSE:AXTA)

Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. lowered its position in shares of Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. (NYSE:AXTA) by 12.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 383,193 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 55,097 shares during the quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. owned approximately 0.18% of Axalta Coating Systems worth $13,113,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Plato Investment Management Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Axalta Coating Systems during the second quarter worth $30,000. First Horizon Advisors Inc. grew 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 buying an additional 266 shares during the period. True Wealth Design LLC purchased a new stake in Axalta Coating Systems in the 3rd quarter valued at about $37,000. Millburn Ridgefield Corp acquired a new position in shares of Axalta Coating Systems during the 3rd quarter valued at about $41,000. Finally, Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new position in shares of Axalta Coating Systems during the 3rd quarter worth about $54,000. 98.28% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AXTA has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Axalta Coating Systems from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Mizuho lowered their target price on Axalta Coating Systems from $43.00 to $41.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on Axalta Coating Systems from $44.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. KeyCorp reissued a “sector weight” rating on shares of Axalta Coating Systems in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Citigroup downgraded Axalta Coating Systems from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $45.00 to $41.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $43.18.

Axalta Coating Systems Stock Performance

Axalta Coating Systems stock traded down $0.58 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $33.72. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 446,564 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,543,979. The company has a current ratio of 2.00, a quick ratio of 1.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80. Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. has a twelve month low of $30.40 and a twelve month high of $41.65. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $37.81 and a 200-day moving average price of $36.18. The firm has a market cap of $7.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.78, a PEG ratio of 0.83 and a beta of 1.46.

Axalta Coating Systems (NYSE:AXTA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.59 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by $0.08. Axalta Coating Systems had a net margin of 6.22% and a return on equity of 24.92%. The business had revenue of $1.32 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.32 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.45 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. will post 2.16 EPS 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.