Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. (NYSE:AXTA) Shares Bought by Prudential Financial Inc.

Prudential Financial Inc. grew its position in Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. (NYSE:AXTA) by 10.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 98,500 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after acquiring an additional 9,292 shares during the period. Prudential Financial Inc.’s holdings in Axalta Coating Systems were worth $3,371,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC increased 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 worth $820,000 after purchasing an additional 323 shares during the period. Principal Securities Inc. grew its holdings in 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 worth $218,000 after acquiring an additional 332 shares during the period. CIBC Asset Management Inc grew its holdings in Axalta Coating Systems by 5.2% during 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 raised its position 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 worth $206,000 after acquiring an additional 412 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Eagle Bay Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Axalta Coating Systems by 116.3% in the fourth 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 during the period. 98.28% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Axalta Coating Systems Price Performance

Axalta Coating Systems stock opened at $33.40 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.76, a P/E/G ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 1.45. Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. has a 12-month low of $30.41 and a 12-month 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. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $35.71 and its two-hundred day moving average is $36.56.

Axalta Coating Systems (NYSE:AXTA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.09. Axalta Coating Systems had a return on equity of 26.29% and a net margin of 7.41%. The company had revenue of $1.31 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.31 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.43 EPS. Axalta Coating Systems’s revenue was up 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. will post 2.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AXTA has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Mizuho cut their price target on shares of Axalta Coating Systems from $43.00 to $41.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. StockNews.com cut shares of Axalta Coating Systems from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. KeyCorp reissued a “sector weight” rating on shares of Axalta Coating Systems in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price objective 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, Wolfe Research upgraded Axalta Coating Systems from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $41.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $43.08.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Axalta Coating Systems news, insider Troy D. Weaver sold 10,457 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.57, for a total transaction of $392,869.49. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 74,905 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,814,180.85. This trade represents a 12.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.40% of the stock is currently 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.