SG Capital Management LLC Takes Position in Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. (NYSE:AXTA)

SG Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. (NYSE:AXTA) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 328,005 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,280,000. Axalta Coating Systems accounts for 3.7% of SG Capital Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 8th biggest holding.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Axalta Coating Systems by 2.4% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 23,763,601 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $817,230,000 after purchasing an additional 554,806 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in Axalta Coating Systems by 1,856.6% in the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,866,601 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $199,288,000 after purchasing an additional 5,566,757 shares during the period. Locust Wood Capital Advisers LLC lifted its position in 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 worth $109,989,000 after purchasing an additional 1,245,223 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in Axalta Coating Systems in the fourth quarter worth $82,878,000. Finally, Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. lifted its position in Axalta Coating Systems by 39.9% in the fourth quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 2,216,463 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $75,293,000 after purchasing an additional 631,975 shares during the period. 98.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Axalta Coating Systems Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:AXTA traded down $1.43 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $35.21. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,428,282 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,161,700. Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. has a fifty-two week low of $25.03 and a fifty-two week high of $37.49. The company has a market capitalization of $7.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.72, a P/E/G ratio of 0.91 and a beta of 1.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.97, a current ratio of 2.26 and a quick ratio of 1.51. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $35.02 and its 200-day simple moving average is $33.74.

Axalta Coating Systems (NYSE:AXTA) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.57 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 company 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 posted $0.35 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. will post 2.05 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AXTA has been the subject of several research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Axalta Coating Systems from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Axalta Coating Systems from $42.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Axalta Coating Systems from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. UBS Group cut their price objective on Axalta Coating Systems from $39.00 to $38.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, Mizuho lifted their price objective on Axalta Coating Systems from $38.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 21st. Three 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $39.91.

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.