DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main Sells 225,446 Shares of PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG)

DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main reduced its stake in shares of PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG - Free Report) by 94.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 14,369 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock after selling 225,446 shares during the quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main's holdings in PPG Industries were worth $1,716,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of PPG. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of PPG Industries during the fourth quarter valued at about $470,535,000. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC raised its position in PPG Industries by 482.2% in 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 acquiring an additional 3,592,655 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in PPG Industries by 815.4% in 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 acquiring an additional 2,700,018 shares in the last quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC raised its position in PPG Industries by 138.9% in the fourth quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 3,196,951 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $381,876,000 after acquiring an additional 1,858,895 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in 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 worth $1,262,234,000 after acquiring an additional 1,590,041 shares in the last quarter. 81.86% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Seaport Res Ptn cut shares of PPG Industries from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Argus cut shares of PPG Industries from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, March 10th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on PPG Industries from $110.00 to $111.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. StockNews.com downgraded PPG Industries from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, 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. 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 company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $128.42.

PPG Industries Stock Up 0.3%

NYSE:PPG traded up $0.35 on Friday, hitting $113.41. 768,629 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,217,503. The company has a current ratio of 1.58, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77. PPG Industries, Inc. has a 1 year low of $90.24 and a 1 year high of $137.24. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $106.43 and a 200-day moving average price of $115.29. The company has a market cap of $25.74 billion, a PE ratio of 23.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 1.20.

PPG Industries (NYSE:PPG - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.72 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $3.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.67 billion. PPG Industries had a return on equity of 23.78% and a net margin of 6.41%. The firm's quarterly revenue was down 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.87 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that PPG Industries, Inc. will post 7.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

PPG Industries Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 12th will be given a dividend of $0.68 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 12th. This represents a $2.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.40%. PPG Industries's payout ratio is currently 58.24%.

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.