Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA Cuts Stake in PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG)

Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA cut its position in PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG) by 21.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 5,486,290 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 1,501,707 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA’s holdings in PPG Industries were worth $655,337,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in PPG. Mutual Advisors LLC raised its holdings in PPG Industries by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC now owns 2,666 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $319,000 after acquiring an additional 92 shares during the last quarter. Groupama Asset Managment boosted its position in shares of PPG Industries by 1.2% during the third quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 7,750 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $1,027,000 after buying an additional 93 shares during the last quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB increased its holdings in PPG Industries by 28.3% in the 4th quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 431 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $51,000 after buying an additional 95 shares in the last quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC raised its position in PPG Industries by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,288 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $990,000 after buying an additional 103 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sachetta LLC lifted its stake in PPG Industries by 18.4% during the 4th quarter. Sachetta LLC now owns 675 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $81,000 after acquiring an additional 105 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 81.86% of the company’s stock.

PPG Industries Stock Performance

PPG opened at $110.03 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $24.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.26, a PEG ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 1.22. PPG Industries, Inc. has a 1-year low of $105.64 and a 1-year high of $143.98. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $114.61 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $120.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 1.58 and a quick ratio of 1.13.

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

PPG Industries Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Investors of record on Friday, February 21st were paid a dividend of $0.68 per share. This represents a $2.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 21st. PPG Industries’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 57.51%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently weighed in on PPG. UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of PPG Industries from $128.00 to $126.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 31st. Argus cut PPG Industries from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. Mizuho cut their price objective on PPG Industries from $150.00 to $140.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on PPG Industries from $128.00 to $120.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on PPG Industries from $153.00 to $135.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Nine research 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, PPG Industries presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $138.15.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Timothy M. Knavish sold 4,800 shares of PPG Industries 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 35,833 shares in the company, valued at $4,240,835.55. This trade represents a 11.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.33% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.