Principal Financial Group Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG)

Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG - Free Report) by 4.4% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 302,962 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock after buying an additional 12,650 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned 0.13% of PPG Industries worth $33,129,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of PPG. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of PPG Industries by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 29,369,691 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $3,508,210,000 after buying an additional 756,937 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in shares of PPG Industries by 17.7% in the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of PPG Industries by 1.7% in 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 purchasing an additional 93,455 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings 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 buying an additional 271,699 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC increased its holdings 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 buying an additional 3,592,655 shares during the last quarter. 81.86% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on PPG. Argus downgraded shares of PPG Industries from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on PPG Industries from $125.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, May 12th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of PPG Industries from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 1st. Fermium Researc upgraded shares of PPG Industries to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of PPG Industries from $115.00 to $105.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $130.67.

PPG Industries Price Performance

Shares of PPG Industries stock traded up $1.97 on Tuesday, hitting $117.43. 1,555,669 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,107,199. 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 $26.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 1.16. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $111.70 and a 200 day simple moving average of $112.16. PPG Industries, Inc. has a 52 week low of $90.24 and a 52 week high of $137.24.

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

PPG Industries Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 12th. Investors of record on Monday, May 12th were issued a dividend of $0.68 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 12th. This represents a $2.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.32%. PPG Industries's payout ratio is 58.24%.

PPG Industries Company 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.