Axalta Coating Systems (NYSE:AXTA) Lowered to “Neutral” Rating by Citigroup

Citigroup cut shares of Axalta Coating Systems (NYSE:AXTA) from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a research note published on Wednesday, Marketbeat reports. Citigroup currently has $41.00 price objective on the specialty chemicals company’s stock, down from their prior price objective of $45.00.

AXTA has been the topic of several other reports. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on Axalta Coating Systems from $44.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Axalta Coating Systems from $46.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. Evercore ISI started coverage on shares of Axalta Coating Systems in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $47.00 price target for the company. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Axalta Coating Systems from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, KeyCorp reaffirmed a “sector weight” rating on shares of Axalta Coating Systems in a research report on Tuesday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $42.55.

Axalta Coating Systems Price Performance

AXTA opened at $35.01 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 2.00, a quick ratio of 1.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80. The company has a market cap of $7.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.83 and a beta of 1.44. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $38.46 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $36.32. Axalta Coating Systems has a 12-month low of $30.40 and a 12-month high of $41.65.

Axalta Coating Systems (NYSE:AXTA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.59 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $1.32 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.32 billion. Axalta Coating Systems had a return on equity of 24.92% and a net margin of 6.22%. The company’s revenue was up .8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.45 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Axalta Coating Systems will post 2.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Axalta Coating Systems

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC increased its holdings in shares of Axalta Coating Systems by 0.9% in the second 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 during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in Axalta Coating Systems by 5.6% in the 2nd 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 during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Axalta Coating Systems by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,822,955 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $246,923,000 after acquiring an additional 46,813 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Axalta Coating Systems by 8.7% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,771,023 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $128,852,000 after acquiring an additional 302,752 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Axalta Coating Systems by 0.9% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,669,190 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $132,823,000 after purchasing an additional 31,894 shares in the last quarter. 98.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.