AQR Capital Management LLC Decreases Position in PPG Industries, Inc. $PPG

Key Points

• AQR Capital Management LLC significantly reduced its stake in PPG Industries by 77.3% in Q1, holding approximately $12.53 million in shares after selling nearly 400,000 shares.
• PPG Industries plans to increase its quarterly dividend to $0.71, reflecting a 2.6% yield, up from $0.68, with the payout scheduled for September 12th.
• Wall Street analysts have a consensus target price of $129.82 for PPG Industries, with varying ratings including one "Strong Buy" and several "Buy" and "Hold" ratings.

AQR Capital Management LLC lessened its holdings in PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG - Free Report) by 77.3% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 117,154 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock after selling 399,842 shares during the quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC owned 0.05% of PPG Industries worth $12,527,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in PPG. Amundi raised its holdings in shares of PPG Industries by 12.8% in the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 1,099,024 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $114,288,000 after acquiring an additional 124,698 shares in the last quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. lifted its stake in shares of PPG Industries by 14.0% in the 1st quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. now owns 15,916 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $1,740,000 after purchasing an additional 1,955 shares during the period. Baird Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in PPG Industries by 0.3% during the first quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 83,500 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $9,131,000 after buying an additional 271 shares during the last quarter. Vident Advisory LLC raised its stake in PPG Industries by 669.3% during the first quarter. Vident Advisory LLC now owns 34,581 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $3,781,000 after buying an additional 30,086 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Magnetar Financial LLC purchased a new position in PPG Industries during the first quarter valued at $5,660,000. Institutional investors own 81.86% of the company's stock.

PPG Industries Stock Performance

NYSE:PPG traded down $1.04 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $110.79. 1,552,318 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,437,477. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $111.78 and its 200-day moving average price is $110.14. PPG Industries, Inc. has a one year low of $90.24 and a one year high of $137.24. The company has a quick ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 1.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76. The firm has a market cap of $25.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.14.

PPG Industries (NYSE:PPG - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 29th. The specialty chemicals company reported $2.22 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $2.22. PPG Industries had a return on equity of 23.85% and a net margin of 6.25%.The business had revenue of $4.20 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.16 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.50 earnings per share. The business's revenue was down .9% on a year-over-year basis. PPG Industries has set its FY 2025 guidance at 7.750-8.050 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that PPG Industries, Inc. will post 7.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PPG Industries Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 12th. Investors of record on Monday, August 11th were given a $0.71 dividend. This is an increase from PPG Industries's previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 11th. PPG Industries's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 64.40%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the company. UBS Group lifted their price objective on PPG Industries from $111.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Citigroup lifted their target price on PPG Industries from $125.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, June 13th. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their target price on PPG Industries from $115.00 to $117.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on PPG Industries from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 1st. Finally, Mizuho lifted their price objective on PPG Industries from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, PPG Industries has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $129.82.

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.