Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. (NYSE:AXTA) Short Interest Update

Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. (NYSE:AXTA) saw a significant growth in short interest in the month of April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 6,680,000 shares, a growth of 15.0% from the March 31st total of 5,810,000 shares. Currently, 3.1% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 2,010,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.3 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on AXTA shares. Wolfe Research started coverage on Axalta Coating Systems in a research report on Friday, March 1st. They set a “peer perform” rating for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Axalta Coating Systems from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 9th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Axalta Coating Systems from $31.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 9th. Citigroup increased their price target on Axalta Coating Systems from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, UBS Group cut Axalta Coating Systems from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price target for the company from $35.00 to $36.00 in a research report on Monday, January 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $35.70.

Axalta Coating Systems Stock Performance

NYSE:AXTA opened at $33.57 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $7.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.21, a PEG ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 1.51. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $32.67 and a 200 day simple moving average of $31.78. The company has a current ratio of 1.98, a quick ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.96. Axalta Coating Systems has a 1-year low of $25.03 and a 1-year high of $34.53.

Axalta Coating Systems (NYSE:AXTA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.43 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.44 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $1.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.29 billion. Axalta Coating Systems had a return on equity of 20.70% and a net margin of 5.16%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.38 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Axalta Coating Systems will post 1.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Axalta Coating Systems

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Axalta Coating Systems by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 23,208,795 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $788,403,000 after acquiring an additional 322,393 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in Axalta Coating Systems by 11.7% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 13,470,860 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $362,366,000 after acquiring an additional 1,415,723 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in Axalta Coating Systems by 1,856.6% in the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,866,601 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $199,288,000 after acquiring an additional 5,566,757 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in Axalta Coating Systems by 9.0% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,657,696 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $125,292,000 after acquiring an additional 382,949 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pzena Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Axalta Coating Systems by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 3,825,560 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $102,908,000 after purchasing an additional 73,604 shares during the last quarter. 98.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.