Westwood Holdings Group Inc. Acquires 509,333 Shares of Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. (NYSE:AXTA)

Westwood Holdings Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. (NYSE:AXTA) by 1,424.5% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 545,089 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after acquiring an additional 509,333 shares during the quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. owned approximately 0.25% of Axalta Coating Systems worth $18,746,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in Axalta Coating Systems by 1,856.6% during the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,866,601 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $199,288,000 after purchasing an additional 5,566,757 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Axalta Coating Systems during the 4th quarter worth about $82,878,000. Locust Wood Capital Advisers LLC acquired a new position in Axalta Coating Systems in the 4th quarter valued at about $66,346,000. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. raised its holdings in Axalta Coating Systems by 39.9% in the 4th quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 2,216,463 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $75,293,000 after acquiring an additional 631,975 shares during the period. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its position in Axalta Coating Systems by 2,001.1% during the fourth quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 622,797 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $21,156,000 after acquiring an additional 593,156 shares during the last quarter. 98.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Citigroup increased their target price on Axalta Coating Systems from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. KeyCorp increased their price objective on Axalta Coating Systems from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on shares of Axalta Coating Systems from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of Axalta Coating Systems from $39.00 to $38.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Axalta Coating Systems from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $39.91.

Axalta Coating Systems Price Performance

NYSE:AXTA traded down $1.43 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $35.21. The stock had a trading volume of 2,428,282 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,161,700. Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. has a 12 month low of $25.03 and a 12 month high of $37.49. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.77 billion, a PE ratio of 31.72, a P/E/G ratio of 0.91 and a beta of 1.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.97, a current ratio of 2.26 and a quick ratio of 1.51. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $35.02 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $33.74.

Axalta Coating Systems (NYSE:AXTA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.06. Axalta Coating Systems had a return on equity of 24.28% and a net margin of 5.69%. The company had revenue of $1.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.34 billion. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.35 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. will post 2.05 earnings per share 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.