Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC Sells 239,193 Shares of Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. (NYSE:AXTA)

Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC decreased its position in Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. (NYSE:AXTA) by 1.6% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 14,321,654 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 239,193 shares during the period. Axalta Coating Systems comprises about 1.7% of Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 17th biggest holding. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC owned approximately 0.07% of Axalta Coating Systems worth $490,087,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC raised its position in 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 purchasing an additional 323 shares during the last quarter. Principal Securities Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Axalta Coating Systems by 5.5% during the fourth 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 in the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc lifted its stake in Axalta Coating Systems by 5.2% in the fourth quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 6,744 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $231,000 after acquiring an additional 334 shares during the period. Optas LLC boosted its holdings in Axalta Coating Systems by 7.3% in the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Eagle Bay Advisors LLC increased its position in Axalta Coating Systems by 116.3% during the 4th quarter. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC now owns 824 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 443 shares during the period. 98.28% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Troy D. Weaver sold 10,457 shares of Axalta Coating Systems stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.57, for a total value of $392,869.49. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 74,905 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,814,180.85. This trade represents a 12.25 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently commented on AXTA. KeyCorp reaffirmed a “sector weight” rating on shares of Axalta Coating Systems in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Wolfe Research raised Axalta Coating Systems from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $41.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Mizuho reduced their target price on Axalta Coating Systems from $43.00 to $41.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their target price on 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. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Axalta Coating Systems from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $43.08.

Axalta Coating Systems Price Performance

AXTA opened at $32.87 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $7.17 billion, a PE ratio of 18.46, a P/E/G ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 1.45. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $35.84 and a 200-day moving average price of $36.56. Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. has a 1 year low of $30.41 and a 1 year high of $41.66. 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 earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.09. Axalta Coating Systems had a net margin of 7.41% and a return on equity of 26.29%. The business had revenue of $1.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.31 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.43 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. will post 2.55 earnings per share 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.