Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA Sells 1,501,707 Shares of PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG)

Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lessened its stake in PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG) by 21.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 5,486,290 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 1,501,707 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA owned approximately 2.36% of PPG Industries worth $655,337,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 93,455 shares during the last quarter. Tradewinds LLC. bought a new position in PPG Industries during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $392,000. National Bank of Canada FI raised its stake in shares of PPG Industries by 141.2% during the fourth quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 288,611 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $34,477,000 after acquiring an additional 168,937 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of PPG Industries by 7.0% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 3,356,722 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $400,960,000 after acquiring an additional 220,152 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Summit Financial LLC boosted its stake in shares of PPG Industries by 47.1% in the 4th quarter. Summit Financial LLC now owns 7,156 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $855,000 after purchasing an additional 2,290 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 81.86% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have weighed in on PPG shares. Citigroup lowered their price target on shares of PPG Industries from $150.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. UBS Group dropped their target price on PPG Industries from $128.00 to $126.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 31st. Barclays reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating on shares of PPG Industries in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Mizuho dropped their price objective 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, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their target price on shares of PPG Industries from $150.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $138.15.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Timothy M. Knavish sold 4,800 shares of PPG Industries stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $118.35, for a total transaction of $568,080.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 35,833 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 accessible through the SEC website. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

PPG Industries Stock Up 1.0 %

PPG stock opened at $110.03 on Thursday. PPG Industries, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $105.64 and a fifty-two week high of $143.98. The company has a market capitalization of $24.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 1.22. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $114.61 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $120.85. 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 (NYSE:PPG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.61 earnings per share 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 forecast that PPG Industries, Inc. will post 7.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PPG Industries Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Investors of record on Friday, February 21st were given a dividend of $0.68 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 21st. This represents a $2.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.47%. PPG Industries’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 57.51%.

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.