PPG Industries (NYSE:PPG) Stock Rating Upgraded by Fermium Researc

PPG Industries (NYSE:PPG - Get Free Report) was upgraded by research analysts at Fermium Researc to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report issued on Thursday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other equities research analysts have also issued reports on the company. Bank of America reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $126.00 price objective (down from $143.00) on shares of PPG Industries in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of PPG Industries from $110.00 to $111.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on shares of PPG Industries from $153.00 to $135.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. StockNews.com lowered PPG Industries from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on PPG Industries from $115.00 to $105.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $128.83.

PPG Industries Trading Up 1.5 %

PPG Industries stock opened at $110.45 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 1.58 and a quick ratio of 1.13. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $106.97 and its 200-day moving average price is $116.39. PPG Industries has a 1 year low of $90.24 and a 1 year high of $137.24. The stock has a market cap of $25.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.35, a PEG ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 1.16.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.10. PPG Industries had a net margin of 6.41% and a return on equity of 23.78%. The business had revenue of $3.68 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.67 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.87 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was down 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that PPG Industries will post 7.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other PPG Industries news, CEO Timothy M. Knavish sold 4,800 shares of the 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 35,833 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,240,835.55. This represents a 11.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in PPG Industries by 2.6% in 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 purchasing an additional 756,937 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake 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 valued at $1,262,234,000 after buying an additional 1,590,041 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in 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 worth $660,752,000 after acquiring an additional 93,455 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 271,699 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $518,132,000 after acquiring an additional 3,592,655 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.86% 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.

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