Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. Reduces Holdings in Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. (NYSE:AXTA)

Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. trimmed its stake in shares of Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. (NYSE:AXTA) by 28.8% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 1,578,610 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 637,853 shares during the quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P.’s holdings in Axalta Coating Systems were worth $54,289,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Axalta Coating Systems by 1,856.6% during the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,866,601 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $199,288,000 after acquiring an additional 5,566,757 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Axalta Coating Systems during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $82,878,000. Locust Wood Capital Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in Axalta Coating Systems in the 4th quarter worth approximately $66,346,000. Kinetic Partners Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Axalta Coating Systems in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $40,603,000. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in shares of Axalta Coating Systems by 11.7% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 13,470,860 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $362,366,000 after buying an additional 1,415,723 shares during the period. 98.28% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently commented on AXTA shares. Wells Fargo & Company raised Axalta Coating Systems from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 11th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Axalta Coating Systems from $39.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on shares of Axalta Coating Systems from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Axalta Coating Systems from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, KeyCorp raised their price objective on shares of Axalta Coating Systems from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $38.23.

Axalta Coating Systems Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of AXTA traded up $0.04 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $33.74. The company had a trading volume of 99,931 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,054,192. Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. has a 52 week low of $25.03 and a 52 week high of $36.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.92, a quick ratio of 1.51 and a current ratio of 2.07. The company has a market capitalization of $7.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.85 and a beta of 1.44. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $34.70 and a 200 day moving average price of $33.50.

Axalta Coating Systems (NYSE:AXTA) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.48 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.40 by $0.08. Axalta Coating Systems had a return on equity of 21.82% and a net margin of 4.77%. The business had revenue of $1.30 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.29 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.35 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. will post 1.99 EPS for the current 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.