Great Lakes Advisors LLC Sells 169,192 Shares of Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. $AXTA

Great Lakes Advisors LLC reduced its position in shares of Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. (NYSE:AXTA) by 49.0% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 176,125 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 169,192 shares during the period. Great Lakes Advisors LLC’s holdings in Axalta Coating Systems were worth $5,041,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. raised its holdings in Axalta Coating Systems by 22.2% in the 2nd quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 717,059 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $21,289,000 after acquiring an additional 130,347 shares during the last quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC increased its holdings in shares of Axalta Coating Systems by 23.9% in the 3rd quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 166,639 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $4,769,000 after purchasing an additional 32,196 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC raised its stake in shares of Axalta Coating Systems by 211.8% in the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 141,253 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $4,043,000 after purchasing an additional 95,950 shares during the last quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group raised its stake in shares of Axalta Coating Systems by 56.0% in the second quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 645,464 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $19,280,000 after purchasing an additional 231,721 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Locust Wood Capital Advisers LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Axalta Coating Systems by 7.1% during the third quarter. Locust Wood Capital Advisers LLC now owns 3,472,354 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $99,379,000 after purchasing an additional 231,498 shares in the last quarter. 98.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Axalta Coating Systems Trading Down 1.6%

Axalta Coating Systems stock opened at $33.56 on Friday. Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. has a 12-month low of $26.28 and a 12-month high of $38.37. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.06, a P/E/G ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.29. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $31.90 and a 200 day moving average of $30.23. The company has a current ratio of 2.20, a quick ratio of 1.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.45.

Axalta Coating Systems (NYSE:AXTA) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.67 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.64 by $0.03. Axalta Coating Systems had a net margin of 8.81% and a return on equity of 24.92%. The company had revenue of $1.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.31 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.59 EPS. Axalta Coating Systems’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. will post 2.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on AXTA. Robert W. Baird reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $35.00 target price (down previously from $42.00) on shares of Axalta Coating Systems in a research report on Wednesday, January 7th. UBS Group lowered shares of Axalta Coating Systems from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $39.00 to $35.00 in a research note on Monday, January 12th. KeyCorp restated a “sector weight” rating on shares of Axalta Coating Systems in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Bank of America dropped their target price on shares of Axalta Coating Systems from $42.00 to $41.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. Finally, Mizuho cut their target price on shares of Axalta Coating Systems from $35.00 to $33.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 3rd. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $35.56.

About Axalta Coating Systems

Axalta Coating Systems is a global leader in the development, manufacture and sale of liquid and powder coatings. The company’s product portfolio spans refinish coatings for the automotive collision repair market, original equipment manufacturer (OEM) coatings for new vehicle production, and industrial coatings including electrodeposition (E-coat) and powder coatings for a variety of sectors such as architecture, heavy equipment and general industrial applications.

Tracing its roots to the 19th century and rebranded as Axalta following its separation from DuPont Performance Coatings in 2013, the company has built a presence in more than 100 countries.