Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. (NYSE:AXTA) Sees Significant Increase in Short Interest

Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. (NYSE:AXTA) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest in the month of October. As of October 15th, there was short interest totalling 6,400,000 shares, an increase of 9.2% from the September 30th total of 5,860,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,940,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.3 days. Currently, 2.9% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have weighed in on the company. UBS Group cut 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Axalta Coating Systems from $40.00 to $41.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Barclays raised their price target on Axalta Coating Systems from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. KeyCorp raised their price target 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. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on Axalta Coating Systems from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $41.00.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Axalta Coating Systems

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in AXTA. Millennium Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Axalta Coating Systems by 89.7% during the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 2,733,703 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $93,411,000 after buying an additional 1,292,434 shares during the last quarter. Locust Wood Capital Advisers LLC grew its holdings in shares of Axalta Coating Systems by 63.8% during the first quarter. Locust Wood Capital Advisers LLC now owns 3,198,290 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $109,989,000 after buying an additional 1,245,223 shares during the last quarter. Interval Partners LP grew its holdings in shares of Axalta Coating Systems by 716.6% during the second quarter. Interval Partners LP now owns 1,224,961 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $41,857,000 after buying an additional 1,074,961 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Axalta Coating Systems by 2.4% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 23,763,601 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $817,230,000 after buying an additional 554,806 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings 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 valued at $355,479,000 after purchasing an additional 550,970 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.28% of the company’s stock.

Axalta Coating Systems Stock Performance

Shares of AXTA traded up $2.91 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $38.32. 5,530,160 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,034,066. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $35.80 and its 200 day moving average price is $34.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.97, a current ratio of 2.26 and a quick ratio of 1.70. Axalta Coating Systems has a twelve month low of $25.92 and a twelve month high of $38.77. The company has a market capitalization of $8.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.06, a PEG ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.44.

Axalta Coating Systems (NYSE:AXTA) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.57 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by $0.06. Axalta Coating Systems had a return on equity of 24.28% and a net margin of 5.69%. The business had revenue of $1.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.34 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.35 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Axalta Coating Systems will post 2.06 EPS 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.