PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG) Shares Sold by Leisure Capital Management

Leisure Capital Management cut its position in shares of PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG) by 2.1% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 5,028 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 108 shares during the period. Leisure Capital Management’s holdings in PPG Industries were worth $752,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. grew its stake in 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 buying an additional 690 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its position in PPG Industries by 11.0% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 358,333 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $46,512,000 after purchasing an additional 35,571 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of PPG Industries by 137.5% during the fourth quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 34,937 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $5,224,000 after purchasing an additional 20,226 shares in the last quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. grew its stake in shares of PPG Industries by 2.3% in the third quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. now owns 8,479 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $1,101,000 after buying an additional 192 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Financial Counselors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of PPG Industries by 6.4% during the 3rd quarter. Financial Counselors Inc. now owns 1,883 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $244,000 after buying an additional 114 shares during the period. 81.86% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have issued reports on PPG shares. KeyCorp lowered their price objective on shares of PPG Industries from $164.00 to $162.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Redburn Atlantic cut shares of PPG Industries from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $160.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. Robert W. Baird reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $150.00 target price on shares of PPG Industries in a research report on Friday, January 19th. Vertical Research raised PPG Industries from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 3rd. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price objective on PPG Industries from $156.00 to $150.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 19th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $155.47.

PPG Industries Stock Performance

NYSE:PPG traded up $0.93 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $130.16. 1,370,846 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,730,382. The firm has a market capitalization of $30.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $139.31 and a 200 day moving average price of $138.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 1.55 and a quick ratio of 1.05. PPG Industries, Inc. has a twelve month low of $120.32 and a twelve month high of $152.89.

PPG Industries (NYSE:PPG) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 net margin of 7.74% and a return on equity of 22.98%. 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 previous year, the company posted $1.82 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that PPG Industries, Inc. will post 8.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

PPG Industries Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 10th will be paid a $0.65 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 9th. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.00%. PPG Industries’s payout ratio is currently 43.92%.

PPG Industries announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback program on Thursday, April 18th that permits the company to buyback $2.50 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the specialty chemicals company to buy up to 8.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other PPG Industries news, CFO Vincent J. Morales sold 3,400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.94, for a total transaction of $479,196.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 28,439 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,008,192.66. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.55% 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.