Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS Sells 1,457 Shares of PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG)

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS decreased its stake in shares of PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG) by 2.9% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 49,330 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 1,457 shares during the quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS’s holdings in PPG Industries were worth $5,892,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Legend Financial Advisors Inc. bought a new position in PPG Industries during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Pin Oak Investment Advisors Inc. lifted its position in PPG Industries by 465.1% during the third quarter. Pin Oak Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 243 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the period. Albion Financial Group UT bought a new position in PPG Industries during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Crews Bank & Trust bought a new position in PPG Industries during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Finally, Sugar Maple Asset Management LLC bought a new position in PPG Industries during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $44,000. Institutional investors own 81.86% of the company’s stock.

PPG Industries Stock Down 0.5 %

PPG opened at $110.75 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a current ratio of 1.58. PPG Industries, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $109.15 and a fifty-two week high of $145.61. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $116.09 and its 200 day moving average is $121.73. The stock has a market cap of $25.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 1.22.

PPG Industries (NYSE:PPG) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.61 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.65 by ($0.04). PPG Industries had a net margin of 6.41% and a return on equity of 23.78%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that PPG Industries, Inc. will post 7.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PPG Industries Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 21st were issued a $0.68 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 21st. This represents a $2.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.46%. PPG Industries’s dividend payout ratio is currently 57.51%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on shares of PPG Industries from $128.00 to $120.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. StockNews.com cut shares of PPG Industries from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut shares of PPG Industries from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $145.00 to $115.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. KeyCorp cut shares of PPG Industries from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Argus cut shares of PPG Industries from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, PPG Industries currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $138.15.

Insider Buying and Selling at PPG Industries

In other PPG Industries news, CEO Timothy M. Knavish sold 4,800 shares of PPG Industries stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $118.35, for a total value of $568,080.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 35,833 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,240,835.55. The trade was a 11.81 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

PPG Industries Company 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.