Victory Capital Management Inc. Acquires 5,566,757 Shares of Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. (NYSE:AXTA)

Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. (NYSE:AXTA) by 1,856.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,866,601 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,566,757 shares during the quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. owned about 2.65% of Axalta Coating Systems worth $199,288,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its position in Axalta Coating Systems by 47.7% during the fourth quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 1,046 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 338 shares during the period. CWM LLC boosted its position in shares of Axalta Coating Systems by 35.6% in the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,474 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $67,000 after acquiring an additional 649 shares during the period. Guyasuta Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Axalta Coating Systems in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $223,000. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC bought a new position in shares of Axalta Coating Systems in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $243,000. Finally, Custom Index Systems LLC bought a new position in shares of Axalta Coating Systems in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $251,000. Institutional investors own 98.28% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on AXTA shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Axalta Coating Systems from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 9th. Wolfe Research started coverage on shares of Axalta Coating Systems in a research report on Friday, March 1st. They set a “peer perform” rating for the company. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Axalta Coating Systems from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Axalta Coating Systems from $31.00 to $33.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 9th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on shares of Axalta Coating Systems from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Axalta Coating Systems has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $36.27.

Axalta Coating Systems Stock Up 8.8 %

Shares of NYSE AXTA opened at $34.21 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.46, a current ratio of 1.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.96. Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. has a 52 week low of $25.03 and a 52 week high of $34.94. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $32.72 and its 200 day moving average is $31.80. The company has a market cap of $7.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.51, a PEG ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 1.51.

Axalta Coating Systems (NYSE:AXTA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 1st. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.40 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $1.30 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.29 billion. Axalta Coating Systems had a net margin of 5.16% and a return on equity of 20.70%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.35 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. will post 1.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Axalta Coating Systems Company Profile

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.