Dimensional Fund Advisors LP Buys 302,752 Shares of Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. (NYSE:AXTA)

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. (NYSE:AXTA) by 8.7% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 3,771,023 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after buying an additional 302,752 shares during the quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP’s holdings in Axalta Coating Systems were worth $128,852,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Plato Investment Management Ltd purchased a new stake in Axalta Coating Systems during the second quarter worth $30,000. Federated Hermes Inc. raised its position in shares of Axalta Coating Systems by 3.0% in the second quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 896,188 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $30,623,000 after buying an additional 25,717 shares during the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale purchased a new stake in shares of Axalta Coating Systems in the second quarter valued at about $408,000. American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Axalta Coating Systems by 407.6% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 237,846 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $8,127,000 after purchasing an additional 190,989 shares during the period. Finally, Chesapeake Capital Corp IL purchased a new stake in shares of Axalta Coating Systems in the second quarter valued at about $588,000. Institutional investors own 98.28% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have weighed in on AXTA shares. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of Axalta Coating Systems from $39.00 to $38.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. KeyCorp raised their price objective on shares of Axalta Coating Systems from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Axalta Coating Systems from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 11th. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of Axalta Coating Systems from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of Axalta Coating Systems from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $41.00.

Axalta Coating Systems Stock Performance

AXTA stock opened at $36.07 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 2.26, a quick ratio of 1.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.97. The firm has a market cap of $7.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.50, a P/E/G ratio of 0.81 and a beta of 1.44. Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. has a 12-month low of $25.03 and a 12-month high of $37.49. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $35.07 and its 200 day simple moving average is $34.45.

Axalta Coating Systems (NYSE:AXTA) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.57 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $1.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.34 billion. Axalta Coating Systems had a return on equity of 24.28% and a net margin of 5.69%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.35 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. will post 2.07 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.