Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. (NYSE:AXTA) Sees Large Growth in Short Interest

Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. (NYSE:AXTA) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest during the month of September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 5,710,000 shares, a growth of 13.3% from the August 31st total of 5,040,000 shares. Approximately 2.6% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 1,920,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.0 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Axalta Coating Systems from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 11th. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on Axalta Coating Systems from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on Axalta Coating Systems from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. UBS Group dropped their price target on Axalta Coating Systems from $39.00 to $38.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on shares of Axalta Coating Systems from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $41.00.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Plato Investment Management Ltd purchased a new stake in Axalta Coating Systems in the 2nd quarter valued at about $30,000. TFO Wealth Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Axalta Coating Systems by 12,022.2% during the fourth quarter. TFO Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,091 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 1,082 shares during the period. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in Axalta Coating Systems in the fourth quarter worth $48,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in Axalta Coating Systems by 111.5% in the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,417 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $48,000 after acquiring an additional 747 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc bought a new position in Axalta Coating Systems during the second quarter valued at $71,000. 98.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Axalta Coating Systems Stock Performance

Shares of Axalta Coating Systems stock opened at $36.18 on Tuesday. Axalta Coating Systems has a 52 week low of $25.03 and a 52 week high of $37.78. The company has a quick ratio of 1.70, a current ratio of 2.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.97. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $35.18 and a 200-day moving average price of $34.58. The company has a market cap of $7.98 billion, a PE ratio of 32.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.85 and a beta of 1.44.

Axalta Coating Systems (NYSE:AXTA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.57 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $1.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.34 billion. Axalta Coating Systems had a return on equity of 24.28% and a net margin of 5.69%. Axalta Coating Systems’s quarterly revenue was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.35 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Axalta Coating Systems will post 2.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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.