National Pension Service Lowers Holdings in PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG)

National Pension Service cut its position in PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG) by 4.9% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 294,807 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 15,100 shares during the quarter. National Pension Service’s holdings in PPG Industries were worth $35,215,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of PPG. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. lifted its stake in PPG Industries by 15.2% in the 3rd quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. now owns 2,224 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $295,000 after purchasing an additional 293 shares in the last quarter. Stephens Inc. AR lifted its stake in PPG Industries by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 11,534 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $1,528,000 after purchasing an additional 409 shares in the last quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV lifted its stake in PPG Industries by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 5,022 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $665,000 after purchasing an additional 157 shares in the last quarter. Campbell Wealth Management purchased a new stake in shares of PPG Industries during the 3rd quarter valued at $209,000. Finally, Cambiar Investors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of PPG Industries by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. Cambiar Investors LLC now owns 435,550 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $57,693,000 after acquiring an additional 7,620 shares during the last quarter. 81.86% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at PPG Industries

In other PPG Industries news, CEO Timothy M. Knavish sold 4,800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $118.35, for a total value of $568,080.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 35,833 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,240,835.55. The trade was a 11.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.56% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Mizuho dropped their price objective on shares of PPG Industries from $150.00 to $140.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price objective on shares of PPG Industries from $150.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 19th. KeyCorp downgraded shares of PPG Industries from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of PPG Industries from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on shares of PPG Industries from $128.00 to $120.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $138.15.

PPG Industries Stock Performance

PPG Industries stock opened at $112.99 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 1.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77. The company has a market capitalization of $25.64 billion, a PE ratio of 23.89, a P/E/G ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 1.23. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $117.57 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $123.05. PPG Industries, Inc. has a twelve month low of $110.20 and a twelve month high of $145.60.

PPG Industries (NYSE:PPG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.65 by ($0.04). PPG Industries had a net margin of 6.41% and a return on equity of 23.78%. Research analysts expect that PPG Industries, Inc. will post 7.95 EPS for the current year.

PPG Industries Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 21st will be given a $0.68 dividend. This represents a $2.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 21st. PPG Industries’s payout ratio is 57.51%.

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.