Swiss National Bank Sells 20,800 Shares of PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG)

Swiss National Bank lessened its stake in PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG - Free Report) by 2.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 736,500 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock after selling 20,800 shares during the quarter. Swiss National Bank owned approximately 0.31% of PPG Industries worth $110,144,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of PPG Industries by 41.1% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,294,142 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $427,580,000 after acquiring an additional 959,849 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley increased its stake in shares of PPG Industries by 12.4% in the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 3,102,602 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $402,718,000 after purchasing an additional 341,977 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in shares of PPG Industries by 5.2% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,374,093 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $308,157,000 after buying an additional 117,526 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of PPG Industries by 0.7% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,342,002 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $174,192,000 after buying an additional 9,530 shares during the period. Finally, DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale grew its holdings in PPG Industries by 16.7% in the 4th quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 1,041,804 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $154,219,000 after buying an additional 149,387 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 81.86% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently commented on PPG shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price target on PPG Industries from $160.00 to $155.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 22nd. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on PPG Industries from $168.00 to $165.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Bank of America lowered their price target on PPG Industries from $167.00 to $164.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on PPG Industries from $156.00 to $141.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Finally, Citigroup lowered their target price on PPG Industries from $170.00 to $161.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $155.47.

PPG Industries Stock Up 0.5 %

NYSE:PPG traded up $0.67 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $132.92. 1,303,659 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,969,299. PPG Industries, Inc. has a twelve month low of $120.32 and a twelve month high of $152.89. The firm has a market cap of $31.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.45, a P/E/G ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a current ratio of 1.55. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $138.16 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $139.02.

PPG Industries (NYSE:PPG - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 19th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts' consensus estimates of $1.86. PPG Industries had a net margin of 7.74% and a return on equity of 22.98%. The business had revenue of $4.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.43 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.82 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was down 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that PPG Industries, Inc. will post 8.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PPG Industries Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.96%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 9th. PPG Industries's dividend payout ratio is currently 43.92%.

PPG Industries declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase program on Thursday, April 18th that permits the company to repurchase $2.50 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the specialty chemicals company to buy up to 8.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often a sign that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Transactions at PPG Industries

In other news, CFO Vincent J. Morales sold 3,400 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.94, for a total transaction of $479,196.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 28,439 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,008,192.66. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.55% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.