Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. (NYSE:AXTA) Holdings Trimmed by Principal Financial Group Inc.

Principal Financial Group Inc. lowered its position in shares of Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. (NYSE:AXTA - Free Report) by 1.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 499,988 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock after selling 7,719 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.23% of Axalta Coating Systems worth $17,110,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Axalta Coating Systems by 0.7% in 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 during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Axalta Coating Systems by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,669,190 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $132,823,000 after acquiring an additional 31,894 shares during the period. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP boosted its holdings in Axalta Coating Systems by 4.2% in the 3rd quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 2,096,790 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $75,883,000 after acquiring an additional 84,594 shares during the period. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. boosted its holdings in Axalta Coating Systems by 11.5% in the 3rd quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 1,991,660 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $72,078,000 after acquiring an additional 205,085 shares during the period. Finally, PointState Capital LP purchased a new position in Axalta Coating Systems in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $30,257,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.28% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Citigroup cut Axalta Coating Systems from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $45.00 to $41.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. StockNews.com cut Axalta Coating Systems from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday. 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. Wolfe Research upgraded Axalta Coating Systems from a "peer perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $41.00 target price for the company in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on Axalta Coating Systems from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $43.08.

Axalta Coating Systems Stock Performance

Shares of AXTA stock traded up $0.35 on Friday, hitting $36.16. 2,418,023 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,945,767. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74, a current ratio of 2.01 and a quick ratio of 1.47. The company has a market capitalization of $7.89 billion, a PE ratio of 20.31, a PEG ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 1.46. Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. has a 1-year low of $30.41 and a 1-year high of $41.65. The company's fifty day moving average is $35.92 and its 200 day moving average is $36.66.

Axalta Coating Systems (NYSE:AXTA - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $1.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.31 billion. Axalta Coating Systems had a return on equity of 26.29% and a net margin of 7.41%. The business's revenue was up 1.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.43 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. will post 2.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Axalta Coating Systems news, insider Troy D. Weaver sold 10,457 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.57, for a total value of $392,869.49. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 74,905 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,814,180.85. This trade represents a 12.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.