Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. (NYSE:AXTA) Holdings Lowered by Principal Financial Group Inc.

Principal Financial Group Inc. lowered its stake in Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. (NYSE:AXTA) by 30.9% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 507,707 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 226,874 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Axalta Coating Systems were worth $18,374,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Axalta Coating Systems by 0.9% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,669,190 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $132,823,000 after acquiring an additional 31,894 shares during the period. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd raised its stake in Axalta Coating Systems by 68.4% during the 3rd quarter. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd now owns 36,191 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $1,310,000 after purchasing an additional 14,704 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Axalta Coating Systems by 3.0% in the second quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 896,188 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $30,623,000 after purchasing an additional 25,717 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Axalta Coating Systems by 126.7% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 794,454 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $26,817,000 after buying an additional 443,946 shares during the period. Finally, Savant Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Axalta Coating Systems during the second quarter valued at $541,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.28% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on AXTA shares. Mizuho increased their price objective on Axalta Coating Systems from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Citigroup cut shares of Axalta Coating Systems from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $45.00 to $41.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Axalta Coating Systems from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Axalta Coating Systems from $44.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, KeyCorp reaffirmed a “sector weight” rating on shares of Axalta Coating Systems in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Four investment 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $42.50.

Axalta Coating Systems Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:AXTA opened at $34.63 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.40, a P/E/G ratio of 0.83 and a beta of 1.44. The business has a 50-day moving average of $38.19 and a two-hundred day moving average of $36.25. Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. has a fifty-two week low of $30.40 and a fifty-two week high of $41.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a current ratio of 2.00 and a quick ratio of 1.42.

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