Banco Santander S.A. Raises Stock Holdings in PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG)

Key Points

• Banco Santander S.A. significantly increased its stake in PPG Industries by 1,268.5%, now holding 31,215 shares valued at approximately $3.41 million.
• Multiple hedge funds have increased their positions in PPG Industries, with names like Invesco Ltd. and Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC making substantial purchases in the last quarter.
• PPG Industries has recently raised its quarterly dividend from $0.68 to $0.71, indicating a commitment to returning value to shareholders.

Banco Santander S.A. boosted its holdings in shares of PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG - Free Report) by 1,268.5% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 31,215 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock after purchasing an additional 28,934 shares during the quarter. Banco Santander S.A.'s holdings in PPG Industries were worth $3,413,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in PPG Industries by 6.1% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,726,630 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $564,596,000 after purchasing an additional 271,699 shares in the last quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC boosted its position in PPG Industries by 482.2% during the fourth quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC now owns 4,337,649 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $518,132,000 after purchasing an additional 3,592,655 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position in 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 in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in PPG Industries by 13.0% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,831,301 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $338,199,000 after purchasing an additional 324,688 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in PPG Industries by 29.9% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,638,353 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $315,151,000 after purchasing an additional 607,154 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.86% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PPG has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their target price on PPG Industries from $115.00 to $117.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a report on Friday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on PPG Industries from $125.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, May 12th. Fermium Researc raised PPG Industries to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Bank of America reissued a "neutral" rating and set a $126.00 target price (down previously from $143.00) on shares of PPG Industries in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Finally, Citigroup increased their target price on PPG Industries from $125.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, June 13th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $129.82.

PPG Industries Price Performance

NYSE:PPG opened at $104.40 on Friday. 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 quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 1.42. The stock has a market cap of $23.56 billion, a PE ratio of 23.67, a P/E/G ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 1.17. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $113.06 and a 200 day moving average price of $111.75.

PPG Industries (NYSE:PPG - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 29th. The specialty chemicals company reported $2.22 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $2.22. The company had revenue of $4.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.16 billion. PPG Industries had a return on equity of 23.85% and a net margin of 6.25%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down .9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.50 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that PPG Industries, Inc. will post 7.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

PPG Industries Increases Dividend

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

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.

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