First Horizon Advisors Inc. Sells 117 Shares of PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG)

First Horizon Advisors Inc. reduced its position in shares of PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG) by 4.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,526 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 117 shares during the period. First Horizon Advisors Inc.’s holdings in PPG Industries were worth $302,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in PPG. Legend Financial Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in PPG Industries during the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Pin Oak Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of PPG Industries by 465.1% during the 3rd quarter. Pin Oak Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 243 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new position in shares of PPG Industries during the third quarter worth about $34,000. Albion Financial Group UT bought a new position in shares of PPG Industries in the fourth quarter worth approximately $38,000. Finally, Hara Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of PPG Industries in the third quarter worth approximately $40,000. Institutional investors own 81.86% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on PPG shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut shares of PPG Industries from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $145.00 to $115.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of PPG Industries from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Citigroup reduced their target price on PPG Industries from $150.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Mizuho dropped their price target on PPG Industries from $150.00 to $140.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, UBS Group cut their price objective on PPG Industries from $128.00 to $126.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 31st. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $138.15.

PPG Industries Price Performance

PPG opened at $114.29 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 1.58 and a quick ratio of 1.13. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $117.96 and its 200 day simple moving average is $123.21. The firm has a market cap of $25.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.16, a PEG ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 1.23. PPG Industries, Inc. has a 1 year low of $110.20 and a 1 year high of $145.60.

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

PPG Industries Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 21st will be given a $0.68 dividend. This represents a $2.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.38%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 21st. PPG Industries’s payout ratio is 57.51%.

Insider Buying and Selling at PPG Industries

In related news, CEO Timothy M. Knavish sold 4,800 shares of the firm’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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 35,833 shares of the company’s stock, 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.56% 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.