D.A. Davidson & CO. Cuts Stake in PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG)

D.A. Davidson & CO. trimmed its holdings in shares of PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG - Free Report) by 13.1% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 63,641 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock after selling 9,600 shares during the period. D.A. Davidson & CO.'s holdings in PPG Industries were worth $6,959,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in PPG Industries in the fourth quarter worth $470,535,000. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $518,132,000 after purchasing an additional 3,592,655 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position in shares of PPG Industries by 815.4% during 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 in the last quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC boosted its position 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 purchasing an additional 1,858,895 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake 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 valued at $1,262,234,000 after buying an additional 1,590,041 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.86% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently commented on PPG shares. Fermium Researc raised PPG Industries to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Citigroup boosted their price objective on PPG Industries from $125.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, June 13th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on PPG Industries from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on PPG Industries from $115.00 to $105.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on shares of PPG Industries from $125.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, May 12th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $130.67.

PPG Industries Stock Down 0.3%

PPG traded down $0.31 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $118.28. 796,208 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,855,243. PPG Industries, Inc. has a 1 year low of $90.24 and a 1 year high of $137.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 1.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $26.85 billion, a PE ratio of 25.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $111.45 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $112.30.

PPG Industries (NYSE:PPG - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.72 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.10. PPG Industries had a net margin of 6.49% and a return on equity of 24.84%. The business had revenue of $3.68 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.67 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.87 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that PPG Industries, Inc. will post 7.95 EPS for the current year.

PPG Industries Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 12th were issued a $0.68 dividend. This represents a $2.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.30%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 12th. PPG Industries's dividend payout ratio is presently 58.24%.

PPG Industries 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.