Meridian Wealth Management LLC Buys 5,801 Shares of PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG)

Key Points

• Meridian Wealth Management LLC significantly increased its holdings in PPG Industries by 311.2% in the first quarter, now owning 7,665 shares valued at $838,000.
• PPG Industries reported a quarterly EPS of $2.22, matching analysts' estimates, with revenue of $4.20 billion, showing a 0.9% decline year-over-year.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.71 per share, reflecting an increase from the previous $0.68 dividend, with a yield of 2.6%.

Meridian Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG - Free Report) by 311.2% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,665 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock after acquiring an additional 5,801 shares during the quarter. Meridian Wealth Management LLC's holdings in PPG Industries were worth $838,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC increased its position in PPG Industries by 482.2% during the 4th 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 lifted its stake 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 during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake 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 during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of PPG Industries by 3.2% during the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,734,270 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $298,992,000 after acquiring an additional 85,891 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in PPG Industries by 29.9% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,638,353 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $315,151,000 after buying an additional 607,154 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.86% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on PPG Industries from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 1st. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price target on PPG Industries from $115.00 to $117.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. UBS Group increased their price target on PPG Industries from $111.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Fermium Researc upgraded PPG Industries to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Citigroup raised 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. 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. According to MarketBeat, PPG Industries has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $129.82.

PPG Industries Stock Performance

PPG traded down $0.11 during trading on Friday, reaching $111.84. 1,400,249 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,083,973. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $112.45 and a 200 day moving average price of $110.94. PPG Industries, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $90.24 and a fifty-two week high of $137.24. The company has a market capitalization of $25.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.36, a PEG ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 1.17. The company has a quick ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 1.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76.

PPG Industries (NYSE:PPG - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 29th. The specialty chemicals company reported $2.22 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts' consensus estimates of $2.22. The company had revenue of $4.20 billion for 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 business's revenue was down .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.50 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that PPG Industries, Inc. will post 7.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PPG Industries Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 12th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 11th will be issued a $0.71 dividend. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.5%. This is an increase from PPG Industries's previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 11th. PPG Industries's dividend payout ratio is currently 64.40%.

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.