Raymond James Financial Inc. Takes $7.13 Million Position in Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. (NYSE:AXTA)

Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. (NYSE:AXTA) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund bought 208,264 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,127,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC lifted its stake 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 acquiring an additional 443 shares in the last quarter. True Wealth Design LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Axalta Coating Systems in the third quarter valued at about $37,000. First Horizon Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Axalta Coating Systems by 35.2% during the third 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 in the last quarter. Millburn Ridgefield Corp purchased a new position in Axalta Coating Systems during the third quarter worth about $41,000. Finally, Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its holdings in Axalta Coating Systems by 60.7% during the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 1,318 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $45,000 after purchasing an additional 498 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.28% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Axalta Coating Systems

In related news, insider Troy D. Weaver sold 10,457 shares of the 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 sale, the insider now owns 74,905 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,814,180.85. This represents a 12.25 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have commented on AXTA. StockNews.com cut shares of Axalta Coating Systems from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Barclays increased their price target on Axalta Coating Systems from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price objective on Axalta Coating Systems from $44.00 to $42.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Wolfe Research raised Axalta Coating Systems from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $41.00 target price for the company in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Mizuho cut their price target on shares of Axalta Coating Systems from $43.00 to $41.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Axalta Coating Systems presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $43.08.

Axalta Coating Systems Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of AXTA opened at $33.84 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $7.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 1.45. Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. has a fifty-two week low of $30.41 and a fifty-two week high of $41.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a current ratio of 2.01. The business has a 50-day moving average of $35.98 and a 200 day moving average of $36.60.

Axalta Coating Systems (NYSE:AXTA) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.60 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $1.31 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.31 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.43 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. will post 2.55 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.