Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp Trims Stake in Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. $AXTA

Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp reduced its stake in shares of Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. (NYSE:AXTA) by 41.2% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 51,448 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 35,979 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp’s holdings in Axalta Coating Systems were worth $1,472,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AXTA. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Axalta Coating Systems by 22.2% during the 2nd quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 717,059 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $21,289,000 after purchasing an additional 130,347 shares during the period. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC boosted its holdings in Axalta Coating Systems by 23.9% during the third 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 buying an additional 32,196 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC grew its position in Axalta Coating Systems by 211.8% during the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 141,253 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $4,043,000 after buying an additional 95,950 shares during the period. Schroder Investment Management Group increased its holdings in 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 valued at $19,280,000 after buying an additional 231,721 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Locust Wood Capital Advisers LLC raised its position in shares of Axalta Coating Systems by 7.1% in the third quarter. Locust Wood Capital Advisers LLC now owns 3,472,354 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $99,379,000 after acquiring an additional 231,498 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 98.28% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have commented on the company. Vertical Research lowered Axalta Coating Systems from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 7th. Mizuho cut their price target on shares of Axalta Coating Systems from $35.00 to $33.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 3rd. UBS Group cut shares of Axalta Coating Systems from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $39.00 to $35.00 in a research report on Monday, January 12th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Axalta Coating Systems in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Finally, Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Axalta Coating Systems from $35.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 18th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Axalta Coating Systems currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $35.56.

Axalta Coating Systems Price Performance

Shares of AXTA opened at $33.56 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $31.90 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $30.23. The stock has a market cap of $7.16 billion, a PE ratio of 16.06, a P/E/G ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.29. Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. has a 1-year low of $26.28 and a 1-year high of $38.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.45, a current ratio of 2.20 and a quick ratio of 1.59.

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

Axalta Coating Systems Company Profile

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.