Pzena Investment Management LLC Sells 422,565 Shares of Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. (NYSE:AXTA)

Pzena Investment Management LLC trimmed its position in shares of Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. (NYSE:AXTA) by 11.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,402,995 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 422,565 shares during the quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC owned 1.53% of Axalta Coating Systems worth $115,600,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its position in shares of Axalta Coating Systems by 47.7% during the fourth quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 1,046 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 338 shares in the last quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina boosted its position in shares of Axalta Coating Systems by 0.5% during the third quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 97,171 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $2,614,000 after purchasing an additional 490 shares in the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp boosted its position in shares of Axalta Coating Systems by 6.5% during the fourth quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 9,161 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $311,000 after purchasing an additional 556 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC boosted its position in shares of Axalta Coating Systems by 23.2% during the fourth quarter. CWM LLC now owns 3,049 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $104,000 after purchasing an additional 575 shares in the last quarter. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its position in Axalta Coating Systems by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 56,174 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $1,908,000 after acquiring an additional 576 shares in the last quarter. 98.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Axalta Coating Systems Stock Performance

NYSE AXTA traded up $0.28 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $35.23. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,473,079 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,135,398. The company has a current ratio of 2.07, a quick ratio of 1.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.92. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.88 and a beta of 1.51. Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. has a 12 month low of $25.03 and a 12 month high of $36.76. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $33.58 and a 200 day moving average price of $32.73.

Axalta Coating Systems (NYSE:AXTA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 1st. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.40 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $1.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.29 billion. Axalta Coating Systems had a net margin of 4.77% and a return on equity of 21.82%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.35 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. will post 1.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on AXTA. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Axalta Coating Systems from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of Axalta Coating Systems from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Axalta Coating Systems from $42.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on shares of Axalta Coating Systems in a research note on Friday, March 1st. They set a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Finally, KeyCorp lifted their target price on shares of Axalta Coating Systems from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $38.23.

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.