Axalta Coating Systems (NYSE:AXTA) Updates Q1 Earnings Guidance

Axalta Coating Systems (NYSE:AXTA – Get Rating) updated its first quarter earnings guidance on Wednesday. The company provided earnings per share guidance of $0.26-0.33 for the period, compared to the consensus earnings per share estimate of $0.32. The company issued revenue guidance of $1.23-1.28 billion, compared to the consensus revenue estimate of $1.19 billion.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have commented on AXTA shares. KeyCorp boosted their target price on Axalta Coating Systems from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Thursday, January 12th. StockNews.com cut shares of Axalta Coating Systems from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report on Thursday, January 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of Axalta Coating Systems in a research note on Thursday, October 13th. They issued a buy rating and a $29.00 price target on the stock. BNP Paribas downgraded shares of Axalta Coating Systems from an outperform rating to a neutral rating and set a $27.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Friday, October 28th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their target price on Axalta Coating Systems from $25.60 to $30.29 in a research report on Thursday, December 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $28.08.

Axalta Coating Systems Stock Performance

Shares of AXTA traded down $0.10 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $27.43. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,264,586 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,548,505. The company has a current ratio of 1.98, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.78. Axalta Coating Systems has a 1-year low of $20.66 and a 1-year high of $30.31. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $26.31 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $25.01. The stock has a market cap of $6.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.82, a PEG ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 1.36.

Axalta Coating Systems (NYSE:AXTA – Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 25th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.39. Axalta Coating Systems had a return on equity of 22.19% and a net margin of 4.20%. The business had revenue of $1.24 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.20 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.39 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 13.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Axalta Coating Systems will post 1.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Axalta Coating Systems

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Axalta Coating Systems by 1.4% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 20,744,832 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $436,886,000 after purchasing an additional 284,713 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Axalta Coating Systems by 5.5% during the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 12,855,345 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $315,984,000 after buying an additional 674,477 shares in the last quarter. Shapiro Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Axalta Coating Systems by 12.8% in the first quarter. Shapiro Capital Management LLC now owns 9,477,301 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $232,952,000 after acquiring an additional 1,074,872 shares during the period. Ariel Investments LLC grew its stake in shares of Axalta Coating Systems by 23.8% in the first quarter. Ariel Investments LLC now owns 7,398,739 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $181,861,000 after acquiring an additional 1,420,653 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in Axalta Coating Systems by 20.7% during the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 5,001,458 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $122,936,000 after acquiring an additional 857,732 shares during the period.

About Axalta Coating Systems

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Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. engages in the manufacture, marketing and distribution of coatings systems. It operates through the Performance Coatings and Transportation Coatings business segments. The Performance Coatings segment provides liquid and powder coatings solutions to a fragmented and local customer base.