Venturi Wealth Management LLC Buys 617 Shares of Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. (NYSE:AXTA)

Venturi Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. (NYSE:AXTA) by 31.4% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 2,581 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after buying an additional 617 shares during the quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Axalta Coating Systems were worth $88,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of Axalta Coating Systems by 0.7% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,822,955 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $246,923,000 after acquiring an additional 46,813 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Axalta Coating Systems by 0.9% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,669,190 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $132,823,000 after buying an additional 31,894 shares during the last quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP lifted its stake in shares of Axalta Coating Systems by 4.2% in the third quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 2,096,790 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $75,883,000 after buying an additional 84,594 shares in the last quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. lifted its stake in shares of Axalta Coating Systems by 11.5% in the third quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 1,991,660 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $72,078,000 after buying an additional 205,085 shares in the last quarter. Finally, PointState Capital LP bought a new stake in shares of Axalta Coating Systems during the third quarter valued at approximately $30,257,000. 98.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have commented on AXTA shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their target price on Axalta Coating Systems from $44.00 to $42.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 19th. StockNews.com cut shares of Axalta Coating Systems from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Evercore ISI initiated coverage on shares of Axalta Coating Systems in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $47.00 price objective for the company. KeyCorp restated a “sector weight” rating on shares of Axalta Coating Systems in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted 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. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $43.08.

Axalta Coating Systems Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE AXTA opened at $36.02 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $7.86 billion, a PE ratio of 20.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 1.46. Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. has a 1 year low of $30.41 and a 1 year high of $41.65. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $35.84 and a 200-day moving average price of $36.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74, a current ratio of 2.01 and a quick ratio of 1.47.

Axalta Coating Systems (NYSE:AXTA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by $0.09. Axalta Coating Systems had a return on equity of 26.29% and a net margin of 7.41%. The business had revenue of $1.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.31 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.43 EPS. Axalta Coating Systems’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. will post 2.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Axalta Coating Systems

In other news, insider Troy D. Weaver sold 10,457 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.57, for a total transaction of $392,869.49. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Axalta Coating Systems Company 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.