Advisory Services Network LLC Sells 346 Shares of PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG)

Advisory Services Network LLC reduced its holdings in PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG) by 7.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 4,397 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 346 shares during the quarter. Advisory Services Network LLC’s holdings in PPG Industries were worth $525,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Norges Bank bought a new position in PPG Industries during the 4th quarter worth $470,535,000. First Eagle Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of PPG Industries by 138.9% in the fourth quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 3,196,951 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $381,876,000 after acquiring an additional 1,858,895 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in PPG Industries by 17.7% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 10,567,051 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $1,262,234,000 after acquiring an additional 1,590,041 shares during the last quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP bought a new position in PPG Industries during the 4th quarter worth approximately $107,850,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of PPG Industries by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 29,369,691 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $3,508,210,000 after purchasing an additional 756,937 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.86% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Timothy M. Knavish sold 4,800 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $118.35, for a total transaction of $568,080.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 35,833 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,240,835.55. This represents a 11.81 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Mizuho lowered their target price on shares of PPG Industries from $150.00 to $140.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. UBS Group cut their target price on PPG Industries from $128.00 to $126.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Citigroup lowered their target price on PPG Industries from $135.00 to $113.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. StockNews.com lowered shares of PPG Industries from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn cut shares of PPG Industries from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, PPG Industries presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $132.31.

PPG Industries Stock Down 1.8 %

Shares of NYSE:PPG opened at $99.63 on Wednesday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $110.28 and its 200 day moving average is $118.62. PPG Industries, Inc. has a 12-month low of $90.24 and a 12-month high of $137.24. The stock has a market cap of $22.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.06, a PEG ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a quick ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 1.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77.

PPG Industries (NYSE:PPG) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.65 by ($0.04). PPG Industries had a return on equity of 23.78% and a net margin of 6.41%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that PPG Industries, Inc. will post 7.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PPG Industries Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Investors of record on Friday, February 21st were given a dividend of $0.68 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 21st. This represents a $2.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.73%. PPG Industries’s payout ratio is currently 57.51%.

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.