Assetmark Inc. Purchases 3,563 Shares of PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG)

Key Points

• Assetmark Inc. increased its position in PPG Industries by 30.5%, acquiring an additional 3,563 shares, bringing its total holdings to 15,227 shares valued at approximately $1.67 million.
• PPG Industries is forecasted to report 7.95 EPS for the current year; analysts have mixed ratings, resulting in a consensus of "Moderate Buy" with a target price of $129.45.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.71 per share, an increase from the previous $0.68, with a yield of 2.67% and a payout ratio of 58.24%.

Assetmark Inc. raised its position in PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG - Free Report) by 30.5% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 15,227 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock after purchasing an additional 3,563 shares during the quarter. Assetmark Inc.'s holdings in PPG Industries were worth $1,665,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of PPG Industries by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,546,472 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $660,752,000 after buying an additional 93,455 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in shares of PPG Industries by 6.1% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,726,630 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $564,596,000 after acquiring an additional 271,699 shares in the last quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC raised its position in PPG Industries by 482.2% in 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 raised its stake in shares of PPG Industries by 815.4% during the fourth 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 last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of PPG Industries by 13.0% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,831,301 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $338,199,000 after buying an additional 324,688 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 81.86% of the company's stock.

PPG Industries Stock Performance

Shares of PPG stock traded down $1.10 during trading on Friday, reaching $104.40. The company had a trading volume of 1,989,134 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,946,785. PPG Industries, Inc. has a one year low of $90.24 and a one year high of $137.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 1.42 and a quick ratio of 0.99. The company has a market capitalization of $23.56 billion, a PE ratio of 23.67, a PEG ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 1.17. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $113.06 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $111.79.

PPG Industries (NYSE:PPG - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The specialty chemicals company reported $2.22 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts' consensus estimates of $2.22. The business had revenue of $4.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $4.16 billion. PPG Industries had a net margin of 6.25% and a return on equity of 23.85%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.50 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that PPG Industries, Inc. will post 7.95 earnings per share for the current year.

PPG Industries Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 12th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 11th will be issued a dividend of $0.71 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 11th. This is a boost from PPG Industries's previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.7%. PPG Industries's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 61.68%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of PPG Industries from $115.00 to $105.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on shares of PPG Industries from $125.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, May 12th. UBS Group boosted their price target on PPG Industries from $111.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Bank of America restated a "neutral" rating and issued a $126.00 price target (down previously from $143.00) on shares of PPG Industries in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Finally, Mizuho upped their price target on shares of PPG Industries from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus 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.