Sentry Investment Management LLC Lowers Stock Holdings in PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG)

Sentry Investment Management LLC lowered its holdings in shares of PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG) by 14.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 963 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 157 shares during the quarter. Sentry Investment Management LLC’s holdings in PPG Industries were worth $115,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of PPG. State Street Corp boosted its position in 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 worth $1,552,100,000 after purchasing an additional 491,774 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in shares of PPG Industries by 5.7% in the third 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. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of PPG Industries by 68.3% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 873,902 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $115,757,000 after acquiring an additional 354,740 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its position in shares of PPG Industries by 65.4% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 523,014 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $62,474,000 after acquiring an additional 206,853 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC lifted its position in shares of PPG Industries by 21.0% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,142,045 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $151,276,000 after acquiring an additional 198,353 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.86% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Timothy M. Knavish sold 4,800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $4,240,835.55. The trade was a 11.81 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.56% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on PPG. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on PPG Industries from $128.00 to $120.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Barclays restated an “equal weight” rating on shares of PPG Industries in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Mizuho decreased their target price on PPG Industries from $150.00 to $140.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. StockNews.com downgraded PPG Industries from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on PPG Industries from $150.00 to $135.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $138.15.

PPG Industries Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE PPG opened at $115.07 on Thursday. PPG Industries, Inc. has a twelve month low of $110.20 and a twelve month high of $145.60. The company has a current ratio of 1.58, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $117.83 and a 200-day simple moving average of $123.15. The stock has a market capitalization of $26.11 billion, a PE ratio of 24.33, a PEG ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 1.23.

PPG Industries (NYSE:PPG) last released its 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 net margin of 6.41% and a return on equity of 23.78%. On average, equities analysts forecast that PPG Industries, Inc. will post 7.95 earnings per share for the current year.

PPG Industries Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 21st will be given a dividend of $0.68 per share. This represents a $2.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.36%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 21st. PPG Industries’s payout ratio is 57.51%.

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.