PPG Industries (NYSE:PPG) Upgraded at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of PPG Industries (NYSE:PPG) from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a research note published on Tuesday morning.

A number of other research analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. Bank of America cut their price objective on PPG Industries from $152.00 to $150.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on shares of PPG Industries from $138.00 to $136.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of PPG Industries from $145.00 to $144.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 22nd. KeyCorp reduced their target price on PPG Industries from $162.00 to $153.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on PPG Industries from $155.00 to $145.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, PPG Industries presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $149.93.

PPG Industries Stock Performance

NYSE PPG opened at $122.65 on Tuesday. PPG Industries has a twelve month low of $118.07 and a twelve month high of $151.16. The company has a quick ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 1.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77. The stock has a market cap of $28.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.44, a PEG ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 1.26. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $127.00 and its 200 day simple moving average is $127.49.

PPG Industries (NYSE:PPG) last released its quarterly earnings data 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). The company had revenue of $4.58 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.66 billion. PPG Industries had a net margin of 8.24% and a return on equity of 23.63%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.07 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that PPG Industries will post 8.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PPG Industries Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 12th will be paid a $0.68 dividend. This represents a $2.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 12th. PPG Industries’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 43.11%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Anne M. Foulkes sold 1,985 shares of PPG Industries stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 31st. The stock was 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 $1,692,513.20. The trade was a 12.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.55% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On PPG Industries

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Covestor Ltd grew its holdings in PPG Industries by 25.2% during the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 582 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $84,000 after purchasing an additional 117 shares during the period. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of PPG Industries by 62.6% in the 1st quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 15,410 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $2,233,000 after buying an additional 5,930 shares in the last quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd lifted its holdings in PPG Industries by 347.2% during the first quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 9,665 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $1,400,000 after acquiring an additional 7,504 shares in the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI grew its stake in PPG Industries by 13.7% in the first quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 119,924 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $16,229,000 after acquiring an additional 14,473 shares during the period. Finally, Pitcairn Co. grew its stake in PPG Industries by 16.3% in the first quarter. Pitcairn Co. now owns 1,623 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $235,000 after acquiring an additional 228 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 81.86% of the company’s stock.

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.