Russell Investments Group Ltd. Sells 67,736 Shares of Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. (NYSE:AXTA)

Russell Investments Group Ltd. lessened its stake in Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. (NYSE:AXTA - Free Report) by 10.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 611,308 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock after selling 67,736 shares during the quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. owned 0.28% of Axalta Coating Systems worth $20,810,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AXTA. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Axalta Coating Systems by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,669,190 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $132,823,000 after buying an additional 31,894 shares during the last quarter. Oak Thistle LLC boosted its stake in shares of Axalta Coating Systems by 434.3% during the 4th quarter. Oak Thistle LLC now owns 39,535 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $1,353,000 after purchasing an additional 32,135 shares during the last quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC raised its position in shares of Axalta Coating Systems by 5.8% in the third quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC now owns 445,836 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $16,135,000 after buying an additional 24,402 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in Axalta Coating Systems by 57.8% in the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 356,017 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $12,183,000 after acquiring an additional 130,427 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Securities Inc. raised its holdings in Axalta Coating Systems by 5.5% in the 4th quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 6,378 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $218,000 after acquiring an additional 332 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.28% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Axalta Coating Systems news, insider Troy D. Weaver sold 10,457 shares of Axalta Coating Systems stock in a transaction on Monday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.57, for a total transaction of $392,869.49. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 74,905 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,814,180.85. This trade represents a 12.25 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.40% of the company's stock.

Axalta Coating Systems Price Performance

Shares of AXTA traded up $0.15 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $31.31. The stock had a trading volume of 559,191 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,039,325. Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. has a 52 week low of $27.70 and a 52 week high of $41.66. 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 firm's 50 day moving average price is $34.35 and its 200-day moving average price is $36.12. The company has a market capitalization of $6.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.59, a P/E/G ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 1.33.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AXTA has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. KeyCorp reiterated a "sector weight" rating on shares of Axalta Coating Systems in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. BNP Paribas upgraded Axalta Coating Systems from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $38.00 price target for the company in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price target on shares of Axalta Coating Systems from $44.00 to $42.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Barclays raised 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. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded Axalta Coating Systems from a "peer perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $41.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Friday, January 17th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Axalta Coating Systems presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $41.64.

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.