PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG) Shares Purchased by Equity Investment Corp

Equity Investment Corp grew its position in PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG - Free Report) by 0.7% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 845,642 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock after acquiring an additional 5,503 shares during the period. PPG Industries comprises 2.1% of Equity Investment Corp's portfolio, making the stock its 26th largest holding. Equity Investment Corp owned 0.37% of PPG Industries worth $92,471,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Grandfield & Dodd LLC boosted its stake in shares of PPG Industries by 3.7% during the 1st quarter. Grandfield & Dodd LLC now owns 130,631 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $14,285,000 after acquiring an additional 4,631 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in PPG Industries by 1.1% during the first quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 446,473 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $48,822,000 after purchasing an additional 4,941 shares in the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in PPG Industries by 18.7% in the first quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 5,331 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $583,000 after purchasing an additional 838 shares during the last quarter. Wealthfront Advisers LLC raised its stake in shares of PPG Industries by 53.8% during the 1st quarter. Wealthfront Advisers LLC now owns 34,340 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $3,755,000 after buying an additional 12,008 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MQS Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of PPG Industries during the 1st quarter worth $550,000. 81.86% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on PPG shares. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of PPG Industries from $111.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Fermium Researc upgraded shares of PPG Industries to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Citigroup lifted their price objective on PPG Industries from $125.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, June 13th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on PPG Industries from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 1st. Finally, Bank of America reissued a "neutral" rating and set a $126.00 price target (down previously from $143.00) on shares of PPG Industries in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $131.42.

PPG Industries Trading Up 1.1%

PPG Industries stock traded up $1.28 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $115.57. The stock had a trading volume of 1,514,301 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,856,859. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $112.74 and its 200 day simple moving average is $112.07. PPG Industries, Inc. has a twelve month low of $90.24 and a twelve month 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 $26.24 billion, a PE ratio of 24.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 1.16.

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

PPG Industries Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 12th were paid a $0.68 dividend. This represents a $2.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.35%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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.