Schroder Investment Management Group Purchases Shares of 397,297 Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. (NYSE:AXTA)

Schroder Investment Management Group acquired a new position in Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. (NYSE:AXTA) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 397,297 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,512,000.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Axalta Coating Systems by 116.3% in the 4th quarter. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC now owns 824 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 443 shares during the last quarter. Millburn Ridgefield Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Axalta Coating Systems in the third quarter worth $41,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its position in Axalta Coating Systems by 60.7% during the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 1,318 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $45,000 after acquiring an additional 498 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. raised its stake in Axalta Coating Systems by 35.4% during the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 2,093 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $72,000 after purchasing an additional 547 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Plato Investment Management Ltd boosted its holdings in Axalta Coating Systems by 156.4% in the 4th quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd now owns 2,238 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $77,000 after purchasing an additional 1,365 shares during the period. 98.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Axalta Coating Systems

In other Axalta Coating Systems news, insider Troy D. Weaver sold 10,457 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $2,814,180.85. This 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 this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently issued reports on AXTA. Barclays boosted their price objective 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. Citigroup cut Axalta Coating Systems from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price target for the company from $45.00 to $41.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Wolfe Research raised Axalta Coating Systems from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $41.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Friday, January 17th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut 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, 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. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Axalta Coating Systems presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $43.00.

Axalta Coating Systems Stock Down 6.7 %

AXTA opened at $31.57 on Friday. Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. has a twelve month low of $30.41 and a twelve month high of $41.66. The firm has a market cap of $6.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.73, a PEG ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 1.33. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $35.55 and its 200-day simple moving average is $36.50. 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 (NYSE:AXTA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 analyst estimates of $1.31 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.43 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. will post 2.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.