PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG) Shares Sold by New York State Common Retirement Fund

New York State Common Retirement Fund trimmed its holdings in shares of PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG) by 12.1% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 222,228 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 30,600 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund’s holdings in PPG Industries were worth $33,234,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of PPG. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in PPG Industries by 41.1% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,294,142 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $427,580,000 after acquiring an additional 959,849 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in PPG Industries by 4,484.1% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 723,690 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $108,228,000 after acquiring an additional 707,903 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in PPG Industries during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $74,492,000. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd lifted its stake in PPG Industries by 127.8% during the 3rd quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 869,375 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $112,845,000 after acquiring an additional 487,677 shares during the period. Finally, Eagle Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in PPG Industries during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $60,006,000. 81.86% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have commented on the stock. Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of PPG Industries from $170.00 to $161.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. StockNews.com cut shares of PPG Industries from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday. UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of PPG Industries from $156.00 to $150.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 19th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on shares of PPG Industries from $168.00 to $165.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Wolfe Research started coverage on shares of PPG Industries in a research note on Friday, March 1st. They issued a “peer perform” rating for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $155.47.

PPG Industries Stock Performance

NYSE:PPG opened at $129.23 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.55. The company has a fifty day moving average of $139.54 and a two-hundred day moving average of $138.85. The stock has a market capitalization of $30.30 billion, a PE ratio of 21.83, a P/E/G ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.28. PPG Industries, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $120.32 and a fifty-two week high of $152.89.

PPG Industries (NYSE:PPG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 19th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.86 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.86. The company had revenue of $4.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.43 billion. PPG Industries had a net margin of 7.74% and a return on equity of 22.98%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.82 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that PPG Industries, Inc. will post 8.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PPG Industries Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 10th will be given a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.01%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 9th. PPG Industries’s dividend payout ratio is presently 43.92%.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Vincent J. Morales sold 3,400 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $140.94, for a total value of $479,196.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 28,439 shares in the company, valued at $4,008,192.66. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.55% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.