PPG Industries (NYSE:PPG) Releases Quarterly Earnings Results, Hits Estimates

PPG Industries (NYSE:PPG) released its earnings results on Thursday. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.86 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.86, Yahoo Finance reports. PPG Industries had a net margin of 6.96% and a return on equity of 23.51%. The firm had revenue of $4.31 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.43 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.82 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year.

PPG Industries Trading Up 0.1 %

NYSE PPG opened at $135.11 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $140.53 and its 200-day moving average price is $138.87. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72. The stock has a market cap of $31.80 billion, a PE ratio of 25.30, a PEG ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.28. PPG Industries has a 12 month low of $120.32 and a 12 month high of $152.89.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Barclays downgraded shares of PPG Industries from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $163.00 to $149.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 27th. KeyCorp lowered their target price on shares of PPG Industries from $167.00 to $164.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $156.00 price target (down previously from $173.00) on shares of PPG Industries in a research note on Thursday, March 7th. Vertical Research raised shares of PPG Industries from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 3rd. Finally, Robert W. Baird reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $150.00 price target on shares of PPG Industries in a research note on Friday, January 19th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, PPG Industries presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $158.40.

Insider Transactions at PPG Industries

In other news, CFO Vincent J. Morales sold 3,400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $140.94, for a total value of $479,196.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 28,439 shares in the company, valued at $4,008,192.66. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.55% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in PPG Industries by 17.2% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,480,664 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $3,661,083,000 after acquiring an additional 3,600,558 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in PPG Industries by 2.2% during the 1st quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,854,892 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $647,037,000 after acquiring an additional 106,294 shares in the last quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of PPG Industries by 163,082.5% during the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 4,157,889 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $522,813,000 after buying an additional 4,155,341 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of PPG Industries by 2.1% during the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,193,621 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $418,589,000 after buying an additional 65,996 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted its position in shares of PPG Industries by 26.5% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 2,775,122 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $348,944,000 after buying an additional 581,750 shares during the last quarter. 81.86% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About PPG Industries

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.