Swiss National Bank Sells 37,400 Shares of PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG)

Swiss National Bank reduced its stake in shares of PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG) by 5.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 659,100 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 37,400 shares during the quarter. Swiss National Bank’s holdings in PPG Industries were worth $78,729,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of PPG Industries by 4.4% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 11,717,499 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $1,552,100,000 after buying an additional 491,774 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in PPG Industries by 5.7% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 8,977,010 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $1,189,095,000 after acquiring an additional 485,597 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in shares of PPG Industries by 5.7% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 3,136,570 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $403,049,000 after acquiring an additional 170,339 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of PPG Industries by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,648,379 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $316,349,000 after acquiring an additional 76,626 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its stake in shares of PPG Industries by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 1,877,170 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $248,650,000 after purchasing an additional 36,047 shares during the period. 81.86% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Seaport Res Ptn cut PPG Industries from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of PPG Industries from $128.00 to $126.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 31st. KeyCorp cut shares of PPG Industries from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Barclays restated an “equal weight” rating on shares of PPG Industries in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, 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 report on Monday, February 3rd. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $138.15.

PPG Industries Price Performance

Shares of PPG opened at $113.65 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $25.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 1.22. PPG Industries, Inc. has a twelve month low of $109.15 and a twelve month high of $145.61. 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 firm has a 50 day moving average of $116.36 and a 200 day moving average of $122.33.

PPG Industries (NYSE:PPG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.61 earnings per share 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%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that PPG Industries, Inc. will post 7.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PPG Industries Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 21st were issued a dividend of $0.68 per share. This represents a $2.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.39%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 21st. PPG Industries’s payout ratio is presently 57.51%.

Insider Activity

In related 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 35,833 shares in the company, valued at $4,240,835.55. This represents a 11.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

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.