Freestone Grove Partners LP Invests $438,000 in PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG)

Freestone Grove Partners LP bought a new position in PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 3,663 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock, valued at approximately $438,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. PUREfi Wealth LLC acquired a new position in PPG Industries during the fourth quarter worth about $279,000. PFW Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of PPG Industries in the 4th quarter worth approximately $868,000. JGP Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in PPG Industries during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $4,050,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in PPG Industries by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 29,369,691 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $3,508,210,000 after buying an additional 756,937 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Avanza Fonder AB acquired a new position in PPG Industries in the fourth quarter worth approximately $2,944,000. 81.86% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

PPG Industries Stock Performance

Shares of PPG Industries stock traded down $1.53 on Tuesday, reaching $108.69. The stock had a trading volume of 1,270,732 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,794,359. PPG Industries, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $90.24 and a fifty-two week high of $137.24. The business's 50-day moving average price is $106.87 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $116.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a current ratio of 1.58. The stock has a market cap of $24.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 1.20.

PPG Industries (NYSE:PPG - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.72 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates 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 23.78% and a net margin of 6.41%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.87 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that PPG Industries, Inc. will post 7.95 EPS for the current year.

PPG Industries Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Investors of record on Monday, May 12th will be given a dividend of $0.68 per share. This represents a $2.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 12th. PPG Industries's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 58.24%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PPG has been the subject of several research reports. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on PPG Industries from $112.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Friday. Bank of America restated a "neutral" rating and set a $126.00 price objective (down previously from $143.00) on shares of PPG Industries in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of PPG Industries from $115.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of PPG Industries from $115.00 to $105.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on shares of PPG Industries from $110.00 to $111.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Nine equities research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $128.83.

Insider Activity at PPG Industries

In other PPG Industries news, CEO Timothy M. Knavish sold 4,800 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $118.35, for a total transaction of $568,080.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 35,833 shares in the company, valued at $4,240,835.55. This trade represents a 11.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 0.33% of the company's stock.

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.