Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. (NYSE:AXTA) Short Interest Up 9.2% in October

by · The Cerbat Gem

Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. (NYSE:AXTA – Get Free Report) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest in October. As of October 15th, there was short interest totalling 6,400,000 shares, a growth of 9.2% from the September 30th total of 5,860,000 shares. Approximately 2.9% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 1,940,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.3 days.

Axalta Coating Systems Trading Down 1.0 %

Shares of Axalta Coating Systems stock traded down $0.39 on Thursday, reaching $37.93. The company had a trading volume of 3,437,044 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,040,714. The firm has a market cap of $8.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.20, a P/E/G ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.44. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $35.86 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $34.99. Axalta Coating Systems has a 1 year low of $25.92 and a 1 year high of $38.77. 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 (NYSE:AXTA – Get Free Report) last announced its 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 business had revenue of $1.32 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.32 billion. Axalta Coating Systems had a net margin of 5.69% and a return on equity of 24.28%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.45 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Axalta Coating Systems will post 2.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Axalta Coating Systems

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Millennium Management LLC boosted its stake 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 valued at $93,411,000 after purchasing an additional 1,292,434 shares during the period. Locust Wood Capital Advisers LLC increased its holdings in Axalta Coating Systems by 63.8% during the 1st quarter. Locust Wood Capital Advisers LLC now owns 3,198,290 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $109,989,000 after purchasing an additional 1,245,223 shares during the period. Interval Partners LP lifted its holdings in shares of Axalta Coating Systems by 716.6% in the 2nd 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 period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Axalta Coating Systems by 2.4% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 23,763,601 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $817,230,000 after acquiring an additional 554,806 shares during the period. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in Axalta Coating Systems by 5.6% during 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 in the last quarter. 98.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently weighed in on AXTA. Mizuho upped their price objective on Axalta Coating Systems from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. KeyCorp increased their price objective on Axalta Coating Systems from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Axalta Coating Systems from $40.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of Axalta Coating Systems from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of Axalta Coating Systems from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $41.30.

Check Out Our Latest Report on AXTA

Axalta Coating Systems Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

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.

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