PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG) Shares Bought by Equity Investment Corp

Equity Investment Corp boosted its holdings in shares of PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG) by 0.7% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 845,642 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after buying an additional 5,503 shares during the period. PPG Industries makes up 2.1% of Equity Investment Corp’s holdings, making the stock its 26th largest position. Equity Investment Corp’s holdings in PPG Industries were worth $92,471,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in PPG Industries by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 29,369,691 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $3,508,210,000 after buying an additional 756,937 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in PPG Industries by 17.7% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 10,567,051 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $1,262,234,000 after buying an additional 1,590,041 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in PPG Industries by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,546,472 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $660,752,000 after buying an additional 93,455 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in PPG Industries by 6.1% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,726,630 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $564,596,000 after buying an additional 271,699 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC increased its position in PPG Industries by 482.2% during the 4th quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC now owns 4,337,649 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $518,132,000 after buying an additional 3,592,655 shares in the last quarter. 81.86% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PPG has been the topic of a number of research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on PPG Industries from $115.00 to $105.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 1st. UBS Group increased their price objective on PPG Industries from $111.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Bank of America reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $126.00 price objective (down from $143.00) on shares of PPG Industries in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Citigroup increased their price objective on PPG Industries from $125.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 13th. Finally, Mizuho increased their price objective on PPG Industries from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $131.42.

PPG Industries Stock Down 1.8%

PPG Industries stock opened at $114.31 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $25.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.16. PPG Industries, Inc. has a 52 week low of $90.24 and a 52 week high of $137.24. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $112.74 and its 200 day moving average price is $112.07. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79.

PPG Industries (NYSE:PPG) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.72 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $3.68 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.67 billion. PPG Industries had a return on equity of 24.84% and a net margin of 6.49%. PPG Industries’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.87 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that PPG Industries, Inc. will post 7.95 earnings per share for the current year.

PPG Industries Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 12th were given a dividend of $0.68 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 12th. This represents a $2.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.38%. PPG Industries’s dividend payout ratio is currently 58.24%.

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.