HighTower Advisors LLC Increases Stock Holdings in PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG)

HighTower Advisors LLC increased its holdings in PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG) by 13.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 74,837 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after buying an additional 8,905 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in PPG Industries were worth $9,914,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PPG. Financial Connections Group Inc. purchased a new position in PPG Industries during the second quarter worth $25,000. Pin Oak Investment Advisors Inc. increased its position in PPG Industries by 465.1% during the 3rd quarter. Pin Oak Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 243 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new position in PPG Industries in the 3rd quarter valued at about $34,000. Rothschild Investment LLC purchased a new position in PPG Industries in the 2nd quarter valued at about $37,000. Finally, Hara Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of PPG Industries during the 3rd quarter worth about $40,000. 81.86% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently issued reports on PPG. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of PPG Industries from $155.00 to $145.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 18th. StockNews.com lowered PPG Industries from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $155.00 target price (down from $160.00) on shares of PPG Industries in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price target on PPG Industries from $138.00 to $136.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Mizuho dropped their price objective on shares of PPG Industries from $160.00 to $150.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $149.93.

PPG Industries Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of PPG Industries stock opened at $125.57 on Monday. PPG Industries, Inc. has a twelve month low of $118.07 and a twelve month high of $151.16. The stock has a market cap of $29.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a current ratio of 1.58, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $126.20 and a 200 day moving average price of $126.71.

PPG Industries (NYSE:PPG) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The specialty chemicals company reported $2.13 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.15 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $4.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.66 billion. PPG Industries had a return on equity of 23.63% and a net margin of 8.24%. PPG Industries’s quarterly revenue was down 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.07 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that PPG Industries, Inc. will post 8.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PPG Industries Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 12th will be given a dividend of $0.68 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 12th. This represents a $2.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.17%. PPG Industries’s payout ratio is currently 43.11%.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP Anne M. Foulkes sold 1,985 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $125.80, for a total value of $249,713.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 13,454 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,692,513.20. This represents a 12.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 0.55% of the company’s stock.

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.