&Partners Acquires New Holdings in PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG)

&Partners acquired a new stake in shares of PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG) in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 3,847 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock, valued at approximately $563,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of PPG. Norges Bank bought a new position in PPG Industries in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $554,685,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in PPG Industries by 17.2% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,480,664 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $3,661,083,000 after buying an additional 3,600,558 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in PPG Industries by 4,484.1% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 723,690 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $108,228,000 after buying an additional 707,903 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new position in PPG Industries in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $74,492,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in PPG Industries by 37.0% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,839,000 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $270,876,000 after buying an additional 496,998 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 81.86% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently commented on PPG. Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of PPG Industries from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on shares of PPG Industries from $156.00 to $141.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price objective on shares of PPG Industries from $160.00 to $155.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of PPG Industries from $170.00 to $161.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Bank of America dropped their price target on shares of PPG Industries from $167.00 to $164.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, PPG Industries presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $155.47.

PPG Industries Trading Up 0.1 %

PPG stock opened at $128.59 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a current ratio of 1.55. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $131.56 and its 200 day simple moving average is $139.02. PPG Industries, Inc. has a 52 week low of $120.32 and a 52 week high of $152.89. The company has a market capitalization of $30.15 billion, a PE ratio of 21.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.28.

PPG Industries (NYSE:PPG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 19th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.86 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.86. PPG Industries had a net margin of 7.74% and a return on equity of 22.98%. The business had revenue of $4.31 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.43 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.82 earnings per share. PPG Industries’s revenue was down 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that PPG Industries, Inc. will post 8.44 earnings per share for the current year.

PPG Industries Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 12th. Investors of record on Friday, May 10th were paid a $0.65 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 9th. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.02%. PPG Industries’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 43.92%.

PPG Industries announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Thursday, April 18th that permits the company to buyback $2.50 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the specialty chemicals company to purchase up to 8.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity at PPG Industries

In other news, CEO Timothy M. Knavish acquired 2,061 shares of PPG Industries stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 8th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $133.24 per share, for a total transaction of $274,607.64. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 35,833 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,774,388.92. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.55% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

PPG Industries Company Profile

PPG Industries, Inc manufactures and distributes paints, coatings, and specialty materials in the United States, Canada, the Asia Pacific, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. It operates through two segments, Performance Coatings and Industrial Coatings. The Performance Coatings segment offers coatings, solvents, adhesives, sealants, sundries, and software for automotive and commercial transport/fleet repair and refurbishing, light industrial coatings, and specialty coatings for signs; wood stains; paints, thermoplastics, pavement marking products, and other advanced technologies for pavement marking for government, commercial infrastructure, painting, and maintenance contractors; and coatings, sealants, transparencies, transparent armor, adhesives, engineered materials, and packaging and chemical management services for commercial, military, regional jet, and general aviation aircraft.