GAM Holding AG Takes Position in PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG)

GAM Holding AG acquired a new stake in PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm acquired 13,122 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,567,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in PPG. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC grew its position in shares of PPG Industries by 156.1% in the third quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 1,160 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $154,000 after purchasing an additional 707 shares during the period. Vontobel Holding Ltd. grew its position in shares of PPG Industries by 7.1% in the third quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 3,426 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $454,000 after purchasing an additional 227 shares during the period. Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of PPG Industries by 6.7% in the third quarter. Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,970 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $393,000 after purchasing an additional 187 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. grew its position in shares of PPG Industries by 46.3% in the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 3,633 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $457,000 after purchasing an additional 1,149 shares during the period. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its position in PPG Industries by 15.4% during the third quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 15,322 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $2,030,000 after acquiring an additional 2,047 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.86% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other PPG Industries news, CEO Timothy M. Knavish sold 4,800 shares of the company’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 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 filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders own 0.55% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on PPG shares. 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded PPG Industries from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $145.00 to $115.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. 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. StockNews.com downgraded PPG Industries from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Mizuho lowered their price target on PPG Industries from $150.00 to $140.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $138.15.

PPG Industries Trading Up 1.3 %

NYSE:PPG opened at $119.26 on Wednesday. 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 $110.20 and a one year high of $145.60. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $118.72 and its 200 day simple moving average is $123.33. The stock has a market cap of $27.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 1.23.

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 7.96 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 2.28%. 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.