Melqart Asset Management UK Ltd Buys Shares of 840,804 Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. $AXTA

Melqart Asset Management UK Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. (NYSE:AXTA) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 840,804 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock, valued at approximately $27,166,000. Axalta Coating Systems comprises about 2.7% of Melqart Asset Management UK Ltd’s holdings, making the stock its 16th biggest position. Melqart Asset Management UK Ltd owned 0.39% of Axalta Coating Systems as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of AXTA. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC increased its holdings in shares of Axalta Coating Systems by 11.6% in the 4th quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 17,456,984 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $564,035,000 after purchasing an additional 1,815,715 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Axalta Coating Systems by 475.3% during the third quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 7,838,111 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $224,327,000 after purchasing an additional 6,475,786 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Axalta Coating Systems by 36.2% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,941,250 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $224,282,000 after acquiring an additional 1,845,353 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Axalta Coating Systems by 64.9% in the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 3,825,946 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $107,739,000 after purchasing an additional 1,506,083 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Channing Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Axalta Coating Systems by 672.6% in the fourth quarter. Channing Capital Management LLC now owns 3,037,990 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $98,157,000 after acquiring an additional 2,644,783 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.28% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on AXTA. Royal Bank Of Canada cut their target price on shares of Axalta Coating Systems from $31.00 to $29.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $36.00 price objective on Axalta Coating Systems in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Mizuho dropped their price objective on shares of Axalta Coating Systems from $39.00 to $32.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 23rd. Citigroup assumed coverage on Axalta Coating Systems in a research report on Thursday, June 4th. They set a “buy” rating and a $44.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company downgraded Axalta Coating Systems from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $39.00 to $30.00 in a report on Friday, April 10th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $34.31.

Axalta Coating Systems Trading Down 1.3%

Shares of AXTA stock opened at $33.34 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $29.53 and a 200 day simple moving average of $30.75. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.50, a P/E/G ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a quick ratio of 1.53, a current ratio of 2.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.27. Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. has a fifty-two week low of $24.94 and a fifty-two week high of $35.72.

Axalta Coating Systems (NYSE:AXTA) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.56 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.50 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $1.25 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.21 billion. Axalta Coating Systems had a net margin of 7.22% and a return on equity of 22.37%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.59 earnings per share. Axalta Coating Systems has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.550-2.70 EPS and its Q2 2026 guidance at 0.650-0.65 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. will post 2.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Axalta Coating Systems Company Profile

Axalta Coating Systems is a global leader in the development, manufacture and sale of liquid and powder coatings. The company’s product portfolio spans refinish coatings for the automotive collision repair market, original equipment manufacturer (OEM) coatings for new vehicle production, and industrial coatings including electrodeposition (E-coat) and powder coatings for a variety of sectors such as architecture, heavy equipment and general industrial applications.

Tracing its roots to the 19th century and rebranded as Axalta following its separation from DuPont Performance Coatings in 2013, the company has built a presence in more than 100 countries.