Trust Point Inc. Buys Shares of 7,654 PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG)

Trust Point Inc. purchased a new position in PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 7,654 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock, valued at approximately $1,145,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Pine Haven Investment Counsel Inc acquired a new stake in PPG Industries in the 4th quarter worth $214,000. Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its position in shares of PPG Industries by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 59,180 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $8,850,000 after acquiring an additional 149 shares in the last quarter. Capital City Trust Co. FL bought a new position in PPG Industries during the 4th quarter valued at about $224,000. Caprock Group LLC lifted its holdings in PPG Industries by 25.6% during the 4th quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 4,520 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $676,000 after purchasing an additional 922 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. raised its stake in shares of PPG Industries by 20.7% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,441 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $216,000 after acquiring an additional 247 shares during the last quarter. 81.86% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Vincent J. Morales sold 3,400 shares of PPG Industries stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $140.94, for a total value of $479,196.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 28,439 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,008,192.66. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.55% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of PPG Industries from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 9th. Wolfe Research started coverage on shares of PPG Industries in a research note on Friday, March 1st. They set a "peer perform" rating for the company. Vertical Research raised shares of PPG Industries from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 3rd. UBS Group reissued a "neutral" rating and set a $156.00 price target (down from $173.00) on shares of PPG Industries in a research note on Thursday, March 7th. Finally, KeyCorp boosted their price objective on shares of PPG Industries from $166.00 to $167.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, January 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $157.13.

PPG Industries Stock Down 1.4 %

PPG stock traded down $1.98 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $139.75. 1,236,126 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,745,459. The stock has a market cap of $32.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.17, a P/E/G ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72. PPG Industries, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $120.32 and a fifty-two week high of $152.89. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $141.34 and its 200 day moving average price is $138.40.

PPG Industries (NYSE:PPG - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 19th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.49 by $0.04. PPG Industries had a return on equity of 23.51% and a net margin of 6.96%. The business had revenue of $4.35 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.27 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.22 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 3.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that PPG Industries, Inc. will post 8.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

PPG Industries Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 15th were issued a $0.65 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 15th. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.86%. PPG Industries's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 48.69%.

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.