Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. (NYSE:AXTA) Sees Large Increase in Short Interest

Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. (NYSE:AXTA) saw a large increase in short interest during the month of October. As of October 15th, there was short interest totalling 6,400,000 shares, an increase of 9.2% from the September 30th total of 5,860,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,940,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.3 days. Approximately 2.9% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Plato Investment Management Ltd bought a new position in shares of Axalta Coating Systems in the second quarter worth $30,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in shares of Axalta Coating Systems by 111.5% in the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,417 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $48,000 after purchasing an additional 747 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. increased its position in shares of Axalta Coating Systems by 90.2% in the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 1,546 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $56,000 after purchasing an additional 733 shares during the period. Versant Capital Management Inc acquired a new stake in Axalta Coating Systems in the second quarter valued at about $71,000. Finally, Quarry LP acquired a new stake in Axalta Coating Systems in the second quarter valued at about $73,000. Institutional investors own 98.28% of the company’s stock.

Axalta Coating Systems Stock Down 1.0 %

AXTA stock opened at $37.93 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.97, a current ratio of 2.26 and a quick ratio of 1.70. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.17, a PEG ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.44. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $35.92 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $35.01. Axalta Coating Systems has a fifty-two week low of $25.92 and a fifty-two week high of $38.77.

Axalta Coating Systems (NYSE:AXTA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.59 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $1.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.32 billion. Axalta Coating Systems had a return on equity of 24.28% and a net margin of 5.69%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.45 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Axalta Coating Systems will post 2.06 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. KeyCorp increased their price objective on Axalta Coating Systems from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday. Mizuho increased their price objective on Axalta Coating Systems from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday. UBS Group cut their price objective on Axalta Coating Systems from $39.00 to $38.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Barclays increased their price target on Axalta Coating Systems from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Axalta Coating Systems from $40.00 to $41.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $41.30.

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.