Quadrature Capital Ltd Grows Holdings in PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG)

Quadrature Capital Ltd increased its position in PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG) by 641.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 36,523 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after acquiring an additional 31,597 shares during the quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd’s holdings in PPG Industries were worth $5,462,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in PPG Industries in the 4th quarter worth approximately $554,685,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in PPG Industries by 17.2% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,480,664 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $3,661,083,000 after purchasing an additional 3,600,558 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in PPG Industries by 41.1% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,294,142 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $427,580,000 after purchasing an additional 959,849 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in PPG Industries by 4,484.1% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 723,690 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $108,228,000 after purchasing an additional 707,903 shares during the period. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new position in PPG Industries in the 4th quarter worth approximately $74,492,000. 81.86% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have weighed in on the company. UBS Group dropped their price target on PPG Industries from $156.00 to $150.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 19th. StockNews.com upgraded PPG Industries from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 30th. Citigroup lowered their target price on PPG Industries from $170.00 to $161.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on PPG Industries from $156.00 to $141.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Finally, Evercore ISI downgraded PPG Industries from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and set a $152.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $155.47.

PPG Industries Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of PPG opened at $127.86 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $29.98 billion, a PE ratio of 21.60, a P/E/G ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.28. The business has a fifty day moving average of $132.06 and a 200 day moving average of $139.33. PPG Industries, Inc. has a 52-week low of $120.32 and a 52-week high of $152.89. The company has a quick ratio of 1.08, a current ratio of 1.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73.

PPG Industries (NYSE:PPG) last released its earnings results on Friday, April 19th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.86 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.86. PPG Industries had a return on equity of 22.98% and a net margin of 7.74%. The business had revenue of $4.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.43 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.82 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that PPG Industries, Inc. will post 8.44 EPS for the current year.

PPG Industries Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 10th were paid a $0.65 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 9th. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.03%. PPG Industries’s payout ratio is 43.92%.

PPG Industries declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, April 18th that permits the company to buyback $2.50 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the specialty chemicals company to reacquire up to 8.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other PPG Industries news, CEO Timothy M. Knavish bought 2,061 shares of PPG Industries stock in a transaction 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 purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 35,833 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,774,388.92. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 0.56% of the company’s stock.

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.