Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA Lowers Stake in Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. (NYSE:AXTA)

Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lessened its holdings in Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. (NYSE:AXTA) by 5.7% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 5,977,852 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 359,185 shares during the quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA’s holdings in Axalta Coating Systems were worth $216,338,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC boosted its position in shares of Axalta Coating Systems by 0.9% in the 2nd quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 15,009,959 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $512,890,000 after purchasing an additional 137,209 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Axalta Coating Systems by 5.6% in the second quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 10,403,246 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $355,479,000 after acquiring an additional 550,970 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Axalta Coating Systems by 8.7% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,771,023 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $128,852,000 after acquiring an additional 302,752 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its stake in shares of Axalta Coating Systems by 19.5% in the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 2,914,764 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $99,597,000 after acquiring an additional 475,493 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Axalta Coating Systems by 89.7% during the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 2,733,703 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $93,411,000 after acquiring an additional 1,292,434 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.28% of the company’s stock.

Axalta Coating Systems Trading Up 1.9 %

Shares of NYSE:AXTA opened at $40.52 on Friday. Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. has a 52-week low of $30.40 and a 52-week high of $40.91. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.38, a PEG ratio of 0.83 and a beta of 1.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a quick ratio of 1.42 and a current ratio of 2.00. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $37.30 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $35.82.

Axalta Coating Systems (NYSE:AXTA) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $1.32 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.32 billion. Axalta Coating Systems had a net margin of 6.22% and a return on equity of 24.92%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.45 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. will post 2.16 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on AXTA shares. KeyCorp increased their price objective on shares of Axalta Coating Systems from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Robert W. Baird raised their price target 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, August 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on Axalta Coating Systems from $44.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on Axalta Coating Systems from $46.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Axalta Coating Systems from $40.00 to $41.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Axalta Coating Systems currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $42.45.

Axalta Coating Systems 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.