PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG) Stake Boosted by SRN Advisors LLC

SRN Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG) by 36.6% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 8,512 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,282 shares during the quarter. SRN Advisors LLC’s holdings in PPG Industries were worth $1,233,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. lifted its stake 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 worth $1,646,000 after purchasing an additional 690 shares during the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC lifted its stake in PPG Industries by 49.5% during 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 during the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC lifted its stake in PPG Industries by 137.5% in the fourth quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 34,937 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $5,224,000 after buying an additional 20,226 shares during the last quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System lifted its stake in 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 valued at $36,620,000 after buying an additional 22,079 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in 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 buying an additional 4,222,402 shares during the last quarter. 81.86% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PPG has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Barclays cut their target price on PPG Industries from $148.00 to $144.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded PPG Industries from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the company from $150.00 to $163.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. StockNews.com upgraded PPG Industries from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 30th. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on PPG Industries from $165.00 to $161.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn upgraded PPG Industries from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, PPG Industries has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $151.08.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Timothy M. Knavish purchased 2,061 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 8th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $133.24 per share, with a total value of $274,607.64. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 35,833 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,774,388.92. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.55% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

PPG Industries Price Performance

NYSE:PPG traded down $2.42 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $123.46. 1,250,185 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,674,963. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $128.12 and a 200 day moving average price of $134.87. The firm has a market capitalization of $28.95 billion, a PE ratio of 20.85, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.26. PPG Industries, Inc. has a 1-year low of $120.32 and a 1-year high of $151.16. 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 released its earnings results on Thursday, July 18th. The specialty chemicals company reported $2.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.48 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $4.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.93 billion. PPG Industries had a return on equity of 23.57% and a net margin of 7.98%. PPG Industries’s revenue was down 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.25 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that PPG Industries, Inc. will post 8.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PPG Industries Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 12th. Investors of record on Monday, August 12th will be issued a dividend of $0.68 per share. This is a positive change from PPG Industries’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.65. This represents a $2.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.20%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 12th. PPG Industries’s payout ratio is presently 45.95%.

PPG Industries declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback program on Thursday, April 18th that authorizes the company to repurchase $2.50 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the specialty chemicals company to buy up to 8.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

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.