Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC Increases Stock Holdings in PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG)

Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC increased its holdings in PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG) by 7.5% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 23,940 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,677 shares during the period. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC’s holdings in PPG Industries were worth $2,860,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in PPG. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of PPG Industries by 14.3% in the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,445 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $324,000 after purchasing an additional 306 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its position in shares of PPG Industries by 15.5% in the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 39,801 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $5,026,000 after purchasing an additional 5,329 shares during the period. QRG Capital Management Inc. grew its position in shares of PPG Industries by 79.3% in the third quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 11,207 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $1,484,000 after purchasing an additional 4,956 shares during the period. Foster & Motley Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of PPG Industries in the third quarter valued at $210,000. Finally, Hara Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of PPG Industries in the third quarter valued at $40,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.86% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Timothy M. Knavish sold 4,800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $118.35, for a total value of $568,080.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 35,833 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,240,835.55. The trade was a 11.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 0.55% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have issued reports on PPG. Barclays reissued an “equal weight” rating on shares of PPG Industries in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on PPG Industries from $150.00 to $135.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Citigroup lowered their price target on PPG Industries from $150.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. UBS Group lowered their price target on PPG Industries from $128.00 to $126.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price target on PPG Industries from $150.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $138.15.

PPG Industries Trading Up 0.1 %

NYSE:PPG opened at $115.47 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a current ratio of 1.58. PPG Industries, Inc. has a one year low of $109.15 and a one year high of $145.61. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $116.82 and its 200 day simple moving average is $122.77. The stock has a market cap of $26.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 1.22.

PPG Industries (NYSE:PPG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.61 EPS 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, sell-side analysts predict that PPG Industries, Inc. will post 7.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PPG Industries Dividend Announcement

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

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.