Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. Acquires 2,982 Shares of PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG)

Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. lifted its holdings in PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG) by 24.7% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 15,048 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,982 shares during the period. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc.’s holdings in PPG Industries were worth $1,895,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC raised its holdings in PPG Industries by 49.5% in the fourth 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. Vest Financial LLC raised its stake in shares of PPG Industries by 28.9% during the 2nd quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 337,726 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $42,516,000 after acquiring an additional 75,620 shares in the last quarter. BDF Gestion purchased a new stake in PPG Industries during the second quarter valued at approximately $3,452,000. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System boosted its stake in PPG Industries by 8.8% in the first quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 274,143 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $36,620,000 after acquiring an additional 22,079 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in PPG Industries by 17.2% in the first 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 during the last quarter. 81.86% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently commented on the company. Barclays decreased their price objective on PPG Industries from $148.00 to $144.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Citigroup lowered their price target on PPG Industries from $145.00 to $144.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 22nd. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on shares of PPG Industries from $165.00 to $161.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 22nd. KeyCorp lowered their target price on shares of PPG Industries from $162.00 to $153.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. Finally, Bank of America dropped their target price on shares of PPG Industries from $152.00 to $150.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, PPG Industries has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $151.08.

PPG Industries Price Performance

NYSE:PPG opened at $126.50 on Monday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $125.71 and its two-hundred day moving average is $130.73. The firm has a market cap of $29.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.37, a PEG ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.26. 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 one year low of $118.07 and a one year high of $151.16.

PPG Industries (NYSE:PPG) last issued its 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 firm had revenue of $4.79 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.93 billion. PPG Industries had a return on equity of 23.57% and a net margin of 7.98%. The company’s revenue was down 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.25 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that PPG Industries, Inc. will post 8.25 EPS for the current year.

PPG Industries Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 12th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 12th were issued a dividend of $0.68 per share. This represents a $2.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.15%. This is a positive change from PPG Industries’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.65. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 12th. PPG Industries’s payout ratio is 45.95%.

PPG Industries Company 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.