Axalta Coating Systems (NYSE:AXTA) Shares Gap Up Following Strong Earnings

Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. (NYSE:AXTA) gapped up before the market opened on Wednesday following a stronger than expected earnings report. The stock had previously closed at $31.44, but opened at $34.21. Axalta Coating Systems shares last traded at $33.88, with a volume of 713,500 shares changing hands.

The specialty chemicals company reported $0.48 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.40 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $1.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.29 billion. Axalta Coating Systems had a net margin of 5.16% and a return on equity of 20.70%. Axalta Coating Systems’s quarterly revenue was up 1.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.35 EPS.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently weighed in on AXTA. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Axalta Coating Systems from $42.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Axalta Coating Systems from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Mizuho dropped their price objective on shares of Axalta Coating Systems from $40.00 to $38.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Axalta Coating Systems from $31.00 to $33.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 9th. Finally, KeyCorp upped their price objective on shares of Axalta Coating Systems from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $37.54.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Axalta Coating Systems

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Fifth Third Bancorp raised its position in shares of Axalta Coating Systems by 47.7% during the 4th quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 1,046 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 338 shares in the last quarter. TFO Wealth Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Axalta Coating Systems by 12,022.2% during the 4th quarter. TFO Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,091 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 1,082 shares in the last quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Axalta Coating Systems in the fourth quarter worth $48,000. CWM LLC increased its position in Axalta Coating Systems by 35.6% in the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,474 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $67,000 after buying an additional 649 shares during the period. Finally, Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda acquired a new stake in Axalta Coating Systems in the fourth quarter worth $88,000. 98.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Axalta Coating Systems Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.96, a current ratio of 1.98 and a quick ratio of 1.46. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $32.78 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $31.82. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 1.51.

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.