Merit Financial Group LLC Has $376,000 Holdings in PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG)

Merit Financial Group LLC decreased its position in PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG) by 32.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,513 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 1,187 shares during the quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC’s holdings in PPG Industries were worth $376,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in PPG. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of PPG Industries by 6.7% during the fourth quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. now owns 11,004 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $1,646,000 after purchasing an additional 690 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its stake in PPG Industries by 11.0% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 358,333 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $46,512,000 after acquiring an additional 35,571 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC raised its holdings in PPG Industries by 137.5% in the 4th quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 34,937 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $5,224,000 after acquiring an additional 20,226 shares in the last quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. grew its holdings in shares of PPG Industries by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. now owns 8,479 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $1,101,000 after purchasing an additional 192 shares in the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of PPG Industries in the fourth quarter worth $22,048,000. Institutional investors own 81.86% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PPG has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of PPG Industries from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $150.00 to $163.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Robert W. Baird reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $150.00 price target on shares of PPG Industries in a research report on Friday, January 19th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on shares of PPG Industries from $156.00 to $141.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Citigroup cut their target price on PPG Industries from $170.00 to $161.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Bank of America decreased their price target on PPG Industries from $167.00 to $164.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $155.47.

PPG Industries Stock Performance

PPG Industries stock opened at $133.46 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $137.84 and a 200-day moving average of $139.15. PPG Industries, Inc. has a 1 year low of $120.32 and a 1 year high of $152.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 1.55 and a quick ratio of 1.08. The company has a market capitalization of $31.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.54, a P/E/G ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.30.

PPG Industries (NYSE:PPG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 19th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.86. PPG Industries had a return on equity of 22.98% and a net margin of 7.74%. The company had revenue of $4.31 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.43 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.82 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that PPG Industries, Inc. will post 8.45 earnings per share for the current year.

PPG Industries Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 10th will be given a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.95%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 9th. PPG Industries’s dividend payout ratio is presently 43.92%.

PPG Industries announced that its board has authorized a share repurchase plan on Thursday, April 18th that permits the company to buyback $2.50 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the specialty chemicals company to reacquire up to 8.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at PPG Industries

In other PPG Industries news, CFO Vincent J. Morales sold 3,400 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $140.94, for a total transaction of $479,196.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 28,439 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,008,192.66. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.56% of the company’s stock.

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.