Brown Advisory Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG)

Brown Advisory Inc. increased its position in shares of PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG - Free Report) by 4.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 658,751 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock after acquiring an additional 31,038 shares during the period. Brown Advisory Inc. owned approximately 0.28% of PPG Industries worth $78,688,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of PPG Industries during the 4th quarter valued at about $470,535,000. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC raised its position in PPG Industries by 482.2% during the 4th quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC now owns 4,337,649 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $518,132,000 after purchasing an additional 3,592,655 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in shares of PPG Industries by 815.4% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 3,031,164 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $362,074,000 after purchasing an additional 2,700,018 shares during the period. First Eagle Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of PPG Industries by 138.9% during the 4th quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 3,196,951 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $381,876,000 after acquiring an additional 1,858,895 shares during the period. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in shares of PPG Industries by 17.7% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 10,567,051 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $1,262,234,000 after buying an additional 1,590,041 shares during the period. 81.86% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on PPG shares. StockNews.com cut PPG Industries from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on shares of PPG Industries from $153.00 to $135.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on PPG Industries from $112.00 to $113.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Mizuho decreased their price target 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, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on PPG Industries from $115.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $128.83.

Insider Transactions at PPG Industries

In related news, CEO Timothy M. Knavish sold 4,800 shares of PPG Industries stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $118.35, for a total value of $568,080.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 35,833 shares in the company, valued at $4,240,835.55. The trade was a 11.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.33% of the company's stock.

PPG Industries Price Performance

PPG Industries stock traded up $0.71 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $109.32. 1,654,752 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,796,675. 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 $24.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.11, a PEG ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 1.20. PPG Industries, Inc. has a 12 month low of $90.24 and a 12 month high of $137.24. The stock's fifty day moving average is $106.58 and its 200-day moving average is $115.79.

PPG Industries (NYSE:PPG - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.72 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.10. PPG Industries had a net margin of 6.41% and a return on equity of 23.78%. The business had revenue of $3.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.67 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.87 earnings per share. PPG Industries's quarterly revenue was down 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that PPG Industries, Inc. will post 7.95 EPS for the current year.

PPG Industries Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Investors of record on Monday, May 12th will be issued a dividend of $0.68 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 12th. This represents a $2.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.49%. PPG Industries's payout ratio is presently 58.24%.

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.