Magnetar Financial LLC Takes Position in PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG)

Magnetar Financial LLC purchased a new position in PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 37,164 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,679,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Gryphon Financial Partners LLC increased its stake in PPG Industries by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Gryphon Financial Partners LLC now owns 4,864 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $727,000 after purchasing an additional 81 shares during the period. Commerce Bank increased its holdings in PPG Industries by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 29,261 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $4,376,000 after buying an additional 1,131 shares in the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of PPG Industries by 133.2% during the 4th quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 30,070 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $4,497,000 after acquiring an additional 17,175 shares in the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC grew its holdings in shares of PPG Industries by 9.7% in the 4th quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 523,616 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $78,418,000 after acquiring an additional 46,149 shares during the period. Finally, Mitchell Sinkler & Starr PA purchased a new position in PPG Industries in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $201,000. 81.86% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on PPG Industries from $140.00 to $139.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of PPG Industries from $148.00 to $144.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of PPG Industries from $145.00 to $144.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 22nd. KeyCorp cut their price objective on PPG Industries from $162.00 to $153.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on PPG Industries from $140.00 to $142.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, July 19th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, PPG Industries currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $151.08.

PPG Industries Trading Down 2.1 %

Shares of PPG stock opened at $126.50 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $29.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.37, a PEG ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.26. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $125.71 and its 200-day simple moving average is $130.73. PPG Industries, Inc. has a 1-year low of $118.07 and a 1-year high of $151.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 1.49 and a quick ratio of 1.05.

PPG Industries (NYSE:PPG) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 18th. The specialty chemicals company reported $2.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.48 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $4.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.93 billion. PPG Industries had a return on equity of 23.57% and a net margin of 7.98%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.25 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that PPG Industries, Inc. will post 8.25 EPS for the current year.

PPG Industries Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 12th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 12th were given a dividend of $0.68 per share. This represents a $2.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.15%. This is a boost from PPG Industries’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.65. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 12th. PPG Industries’s payout ratio is 45.95%.

PPG Industries 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.