FORA Capital LLC Decreases Holdings in PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG)

FORA Capital LLC reduced its position in PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG) by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 44,970 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 633 shares during the period. FORA Capital LLC’s holdings in PPG Industries were worth $5,957,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vest Financial LLC increased its position in shares of PPG Industries by 28.9% in the second quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 337,726 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $42,516,000 after buying an additional 75,620 shares in the last quarter. BDF Gestion purchased a new position in PPG Industries during the 2nd quarter valued at about $3,452,000. Equity Investment Corp increased its holdings in PPG Industries by 7.0% during the 3rd quarter. Equity Investment Corp now owns 649,301 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $86,006,000 after acquiring an additional 42,380 shares in the last quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management acquired a new position in PPG Industries during the third quarter worth about $604,000. Finally, Swedbank AB lifted its holdings in shares of PPG Industries by 6.3% in the second quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 158,761 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $19,986,000 after purchasing an additional 9,412 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 subject of several research reports. Mizuho cut their price objective on PPG Industries from $160.00 to $150.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on PPG Industries from $138.00 to $136.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. StockNews.com lowered PPG Industries from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on PPG Industries from $155.00 to $145.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $155.00 target price (down from $160.00) on shares of PPG Industries in a report on Monday, October 21st. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, PPG Industries presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $149.93.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Anne M. Foulkes sold 1,985 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $125.80, for a total transaction of $249,713.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 13,454 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,692,513.20. This represents a 12.86 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.56% of the company’s stock.

PPG Industries Trading Up 0.6 %

PPG stock traded up $0.76 on Wednesday, hitting $124.11. 62,615 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,573,085. 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 has a market capitalization of $28.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.26. PPG Industries, Inc. has a twelve month low of $118.07 and a twelve month high of $151.16. The business’s fifty day moving average is $126.88 and its two-hundred day moving average is $127.25.

PPG Industries (NYSE:PPG) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The specialty chemicals company reported $2.13 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.15 by ($0.02). PPG Industries had a return on equity of 23.63% and a net margin of 8.24%. The firm had revenue of $4.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.66 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.07 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that PPG Industries, Inc. will post 8.18 earnings per share for the current year.

PPG Industries Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 12th will be issued a dividend of $0.68 per share. This represents a $2.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.19%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 12th. PPG Industries’s payout ratio is currently 43.11%.

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.