Wedbush Securities Inc. Increases Position in PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG)

Wedbush Securities Inc. lifted its position in shares of PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG) by 3.5% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 5,015 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after buying an additional 171 shares during the quarter. Wedbush Securities Inc.’s holdings in PPG Industries were worth $631,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of PPG Industries by 17.2% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 28,703,066 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $4,159,074,000 after acquiring an additional 4,222,402 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in PPG Industries in the 4th quarter worth approximately $554,685,000. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its holdings in PPG Industries by 549.0% during the 2nd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 256,142 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $32,246,000 after buying an additional 216,675 shares in the last quarter. MEAG MUNICH ERGO Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH bought a new stake in shares of PPG Industries during the first quarter valued at approximately $31,033,000. Finally, 1832 Asset Management L.P. lifted its holdings in shares of PPG Industries by 3,039.8% in the first quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 201,415 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $29,185,000 after buying an additional 195,000 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 81.86% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PPG has been the subject of several research analyst reports. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of PPG Industries from $140.00 to $142.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, July 19th. KeyCorp reduced their target price on PPG Industries from $162.00 to $153.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Citigroup dropped their price target on PPG Industries from $145.00 to $144.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on PPG Industries from $140.00 to $139.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Finally, Barclays lowered their target price on PPG Industries from $148.00 to $144.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, PPG Industries currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $151.08.

PPG Industries Price Performance

PPG stock opened at $125.49 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $29.43 billion, a PE ratio of 21.20, a P/E/G ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 1.26. PPG Industries, Inc. has a 12 month low of $118.07 and a 12 month high of $151.16. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $125.70 and a 200 day moving average price of $131.40. The company has a current ratio of 1.49, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73.

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

PPG Industries Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 12th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 12th were given a dividend of $0.68 per share. This represents a $2.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.17%. This is an increase from PPG Industries’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.65. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 12th. PPG Industries’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.