LRI Investments LLC Purchases New Position in PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG)

LRI Investments LLC purchased a new stake in PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 389 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock, valued at approximately $53,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of PPG. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of PPG Industries by 6.7% during the 4th quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. now owns 11,004 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $1,646,000 after purchasing an additional 690 shares in the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC grew its position in shares of PPG Industries by 49.5% during the 4th quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 28,345 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $4,239,000 after purchasing an additional 9,384 shares in the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC grew its position in shares of PPG Industries by 137.5% during the 4th quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 34,937 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $5,224,000 after purchasing an additional 20,226 shares in the last quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System grew its position in shares of PPG Industries by 8.8% during the 1st quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 274,143 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $36,620,000 after purchasing an additional 22,079 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of PPG Industries by 17.2% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 28,703,066 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $4,159,074,000 after purchasing an additional 4,222,402 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.86% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at PPG Industries

In other news, CEO Timothy M. Knavish bought 2,061 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 8th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $133.24 per share, for a total transaction of $274,607.64. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer now directly owns 35,833 shares in the company, valued at $4,774,388.92. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.55% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

PPG Industries Trading Up 1.3 %

Shares of NYSE:PPG traded up $1.61 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $127.55. 1,579,781 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,561,094. The firm has a market capitalization of $29.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.55, a PEG ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.26. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $128.79 and its 200-day moving average price is $135.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.49. PPG Industries, Inc. has a twelve month low of $120.32 and a twelve month high of $151.16.

PPG Industries (NYSE:PPG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 18th. The specialty chemicals company reported $2.50 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.48 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $4.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.93 billion. PPG Industries had a net margin of 7.98% and a return on equity of 23.57%. PPG Industries’s revenue was down 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.25 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that PPG Industries, Inc. will post 8.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

PPG Industries announced that its board has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, April 18th that authorizes the company to repurchase $2.50 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the specialty chemicals company to purchase up to 8.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

PPG Industries Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 12th. Investors of record on Monday, August 12th will be issued a $0.68 dividend. This is a positive change from PPG Industries’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.65. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 12th. This represents a $2.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.13%. PPG Industries’s payout ratio is presently 43.92%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on PPG shares. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of PPG Industries from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $150.00 to $163.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price objective on shares of PPG Industries from $160.00 to $155.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Evercore ISI cut shares of PPG Industries from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and set a $152.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on shares of PPG Industries from $140.00 to $139.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on shares of PPG Industries from $140.00 to $142.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, July 19th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $151.08.

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.