Cambridge Trust Co. Decreases Stock Holdings in PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG)

Cambridge Trust Co. reduced its holdings in shares of PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG) by 1.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,696 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 125 shares during the period. Cambridge Trust Co.’s holdings in PPG Industries were worth $970,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in PPG Industries by 6.7% during the fourth quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. now owns 11,004 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $1,646,000 after buying an additional 690 shares during the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC increased its stake in shares of PPG Industries by 49.5% in the fourth quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 28,345 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $4,239,000 after purchasing an additional 9,384 shares in the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of PPG Industries by 137.5% in the fourth quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 34,937 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $5,224,000 after purchasing an additional 20,226 shares in the last quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System increased its stake in shares of PPG Industries by 8.8% in the first quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 274,143 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $36,620,000 after purchasing an additional 22,079 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake 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 worth $4,159,074,000 after purchasing an additional 4,222,402 shares in the last quarter. 81.86% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at PPG Industries

In other news, CEO Timothy M. Knavish purchased 2,061 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 8th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $133.24 per share, for a total transaction of $274,607.64. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 35,833 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,774,388.92. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.55% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on PPG. Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of PPG Industries from $145.00 to $144.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of PPG Industries from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $150.00 to $163.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on shares of PPG Industries from $140.00 to $139.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Evercore ISI lowered shares of PPG Industries from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and set a $152.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Finally, KeyCorp dropped their target price on shares of PPG Industries from $162.00 to $153.00 and set an “overweight” 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 given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $151.08.

PPG Industries Trading Down 1.9 %

PPG stock traded down $2.42 during trading on Friday, hitting $123.46. The company had a trading volume of 1,250,185 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,674,963. The firm has a market capitalization of $28.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.85, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.26. PPG Industries, Inc. has a 52-week low of $120.32 and a 52-week high of $151.16. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $128.12 and a 200-day simple moving average of $134.93. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73.

PPG Industries (NYSE:PPG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 18th. The specialty chemicals company reported $2.50 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.48 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $4.79 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.93 billion. PPG Industries had a net margin of 7.98% and a return on equity of 23.57%. The firm’s revenue was down 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.25 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that PPG Industries, Inc. will post 8.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PPG Industries announced that its board has authorized a share repurchase plan on Thursday, April 18th that permits the company to repurchase $2.50 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the specialty chemicals company to purchase up to 8.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

PPG Industries Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 12th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 12th will be given a dividend of $0.68 per share. This is an increase from PPG Industries’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.65. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 12th. This represents a $2.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.20%. PPG Industries’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 43.92%.

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.