Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. (NYSE:AXTA) Shares Purchased by Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund boosted its position in Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. (NYSE:AXTA) by 77.8% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 33,390 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after purchasing an additional 14,615 shares during the period. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in Axalta Coating Systems were worth $1,143,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. First Horizon Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Axalta Coating Systems by 35.2% in the 3rd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 1,021 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 266 shares during the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC increased its stake in shares of Axalta Coating Systems by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 23,951 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $820,000 after acquiring an additional 323 shares during the last quarter. Principal Securities Inc. increased its stake in shares of Axalta Coating Systems by 5.5% during the 4th quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 6,378 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $218,000 after acquiring an additional 332 shares during the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc increased its stake in shares of Axalta Coating Systems by 5.2% during the 4th quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 6,744 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $231,000 after acquiring an additional 334 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Optas LLC increased its stake in shares of Axalta Coating Systems by 7.3% during the 4th quarter. Optas LLC now owns 6,024 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $206,000 after acquiring an additional 412 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.28% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Mizuho dropped their price objective on shares of Axalta Coating Systems from $43.00 to $41.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Evercore ISI assumed coverage on shares of Axalta Coating Systems in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $47.00 price objective for the company. Wolfe Research raised shares of Axalta Coating Systems from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $41.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Friday, January 17th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Axalta Coating Systems from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price objective on shares of 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. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Axalta Coating Systems currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $43.08.

Axalta Coating Systems Stock Up 1.0 %

NYSE AXTA opened at $36.16 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $7.89 billion, a PE ratio of 20.31, a P/E/G ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 1.46. Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. has a fifty-two week low of $30.41 and a fifty-two week high of $41.65. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $35.92 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $36.70. The company has a quick ratio of 1.47, a current ratio of 2.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Troy D. Weaver sold 10,457 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 directly owns 74,905 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,814,180.85. This represents a 12.25 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.