Ashton Thomas Securities LLC Acquires New Shares in PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG)

Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new position in PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG) in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor bought 345 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock, valued at approximately $46,000.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vest Financial LLC raised its position in shares of PPG Industries by 28.9% in the second quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 337,726 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $42,516,000 after buying an additional 75,620 shares in the last quarter. BDF Gestion bought a new stake in shares of PPG Industries during the 2nd quarter valued at about $3,452,000. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System grew its holdings in shares of PPG Industries by 8.8% during the first quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 274,143 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $36,620,000 after purchasing an additional 22,079 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of PPG Industries by 17.2% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 28,703,066 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $4,159,074,000 after purchasing an additional 4,222,402 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ritholtz Wealth Management bought a new position in shares of PPG Industries in the third quarter worth approximately $604,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.86% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at PPG Industries

In other PPG Industries news, VP Anne M. Foulkes sold 1,985 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $125.80, for a total value of $249,713.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 13,454 shares in the company, valued at $1,692,513.20. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.55% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PPG has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of PPG Industries from $145.00 to $144.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on PPG Industries from $155.00 to $145.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 18th. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $155.00 price objective (down from $160.00) on shares of PPG Industries in a report on Monday, October 21st. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on PPG Industries from $138.00 to $136.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, KeyCorp cut their target price on PPG Industries from $162.00 to $153.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $149.93.

PPG Industries Stock Up 1.4 %

NYSE PPG opened at $123.41 on Thursday. PPG Industries, Inc. has a 1 year low of $118.07 and a 1 year high of $151.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $28.63 billion, a PE ratio of 19.56, a PEG ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.26. 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 business’s 50-day moving average is $127.52 and its 200 day moving average is $127.93.

PPG Industries (NYSE:PPG) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The specialty chemicals company reported $2.13 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.15 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $4.58 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.66 billion. PPG Industries had a net margin of 8.24% and a return on equity of 23.63%. PPG Industries’s revenue was down 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.07 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that PPG Industries, Inc. will post 8.18 earnings per share for the current year.

PPG Industries Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 12th will be paid a dividend of $0.68 per share. This represents a $2.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.20%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 12th. PPG Industries’s payout ratio is 43.11%.

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.