Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. Buys 20,738 Shares of Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. (NYSE:AXTA)

Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. grew its stake in shares of Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. (NYSE:AXTA) by 24.9% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 103,938 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after purchasing an additional 20,738 shares during the quarter. Polar Asset Management Partners Inc.’s holdings in Axalta Coating Systems were worth $3,557,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of AXTA. Barclays PLC boosted its stake in shares of Axalta Coating Systems by 50.4% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 154,483 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $5,589,000 after purchasing an additional 51,748 shares in the last quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC boosted its stake in shares of Axalta Coating Systems by 13.3% during the 4th quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 22,872 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $783,000 after purchasing an additional 2,676 shares in the last quarter. Shelton Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Axalta Coating Systems during the 4th quarter valued at about $228,000. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its stake in shares of Axalta Coating Systems by 35.4% during the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 2,093 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $72,000 after purchasing an additional 547 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott LLC lifted its position in Axalta Coating Systems by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 23,951 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $820,000 after acquiring an additional 323 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 98.28% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AXTA has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut shares of Axalta Coating Systems from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $42.00 to $32.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. BNP Paribas raised shares of Axalta Coating Systems from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $38.00 price target for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on shares of Axalta Coating Systems from $46.00 to $40.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. StockNews.com cut shares of Axalta Coating Systems from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Axalta Coating Systems from $37.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $40.38.

Axalta Coating Systems Stock Down 1.5%

NYSE:AXTA opened at $32.36 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $7.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.18, a P/E/G ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a current ratio of 2.01. Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. has a fifty-two week low of $27.70 and a fifty-two week high of $41.66. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $32.33 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $35.48.

Axalta Coating Systems (NYSE:AXTA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.59 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.54 by $0.05. Axalta Coating Systems had a net margin of 7.41% and a return on equity of 26.29%. The firm had revenue of $1.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.29 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.48 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. will post 2.55 earnings per share 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.