Quest Partners LLC Reduces Holdings in PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG)

Quest Partners LLC reduced its stake in PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG) by 78.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,724 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 9,750 shares during the quarter. Quest Partners LLC’s holdings in PPG Industries were worth $343,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of PPG. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of PPG Industries by 17.2% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 28,703,066 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $4,159,074,000 after buying an additional 4,222,402 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in PPG Industries during the 4th quarter worth about $554,685,000. Putnam Investments LLC lifted its position in PPG Industries by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. Putnam Investments LLC now owns 2,659,974 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $397,799,000 after acquiring an additional 81,200 shares during the period. Boston Partners increased its holdings in shares of PPG Industries by 4.9% in the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 1,713,126 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $248,172,000 after purchasing an additional 80,710 shares during the period. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of PPG Industries by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,287,925 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $192,609,000 after purchasing an additional 17,767 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.86% of the company’s stock.

PPG Industries Stock Performance

PPG opened at $126.98 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $125.73 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $131.30. PPG Industries, Inc. has a 52-week low of $118.07 and a 52-week high of $151.16. The company has a market cap of $29.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.45, a PEG ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73.

PPG Industries (NYSE:PPG) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 18th. The specialty chemicals company reported $2.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.48 by $0.02. PPG Industries had a return on equity of 23.57% and a net margin of 7.98%. The business had revenue of $4.79 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.93 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.25 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that PPG Industries, Inc. will post 8.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PPG Industries Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 12th. Investors of record on Monday, August 12th were paid a dividend of $0.68 per share. This represents a $2.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.14%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 12th. This is a boost from PPG Industries’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.65. PPG Industries’s dividend payout ratio is currently 45.95%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on PPG shares. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on PPG Industries from $165.00 to $161.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. KeyCorp reduced their target price on shares of PPG Industries from $162.00 to $153.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 22nd. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of PPG Industries from $140.00 to $142.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, July 19th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on PPG Industries from $145.00 to $144.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. Finally, Bank of America lowered their target price on PPG Industries from $152.00 to $150.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $151.08.

About PPG Industries

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.