Loomis Sayles & Co. L P Acquires New Position in PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG)

Loomis Sayles & Co. L P bought a new position in PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 543 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock, valued at approximately $65,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Legend Financial Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of PPG Industries in the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Albion Financial Group UT purchased a new stake in shares of PPG Industries during the 4th quarter worth about $38,000. Crews Bank & Trust purchased a new stake in shares of PPG Industries during the 4th quarter worth about $42,000. Sugar Maple Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of PPG Industries during the 4th quarter valued at about $44,000. Finally, Millstone Evans Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of PPG Industries in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $46,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.86% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of PPG Industries from $150.00 to $135.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of PPG Industries from $150.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. StockNews.com lowered PPG Industries from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Argus cut PPG Industries from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on PPG Industries from $128.00 to $120.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, PPG Industries presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $138.15.

PPG Industries Price Performance

Shares of PPG Industries stock opened at $107.32 on Monday. 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 company has a market cap of $24.36 billion, a PE ratio of 22.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 1.22. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $115.37 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $121.17. PPG Industries, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $105.64 and a fifty-two week high of $145.61.

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 the consensus estimate of $1.65 by ($0.04). PPG Industries had a net margin of 6.41% and a return on equity of 23.78%. Analysts expect that PPG Industries, Inc. will post 7.95 EPS for the current year.

PPG Industries Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 21st were given a dividend of $0.68 per share. This represents a $2.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 21st. PPG Industries’s dividend payout ratio is presently 57.51%.

Insider Activity at PPG Industries

In other news, CEO Timothy M. Knavish sold 4,800 shares of PPG Industries 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 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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.