PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG) Shares Bought by Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund boosted its position in PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG) by 1.9% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 87,085 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,662 shares during the quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in PPG Industries were worth $13,024,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of PPG Industries during the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. grew its holdings in PPG Industries by 588.5% in the 4th quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 179 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 153 shares during the last quarter. CVA Family Office LLC bought a new stake in PPG Industries during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Financial Connections Group Inc. bought a new position in PPG Industries during the 4th quarter worth about $30,000. Finally, OFI Invest Asset Management acquired a new stake in PPG Industries in the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. 81.86% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. UBS Group reduced their price objective on PPG Industries from $156.00 to $150.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. StockNews.com downgraded PPG Industries from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of PPG Industries from $149.00 to $148.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of PPG Industries from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. Finally, Vertical Research raised shares of PPG Industries from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, PPG Industries currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $155.50.

Insider Transactions at PPG Industries

In other PPG Industries news, CFO Vincent J. Morales sold 3,400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 1st. The stock was 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 approximately $4,008,192.66. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.56% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

PPG Industries Price Performance

Shares of NYSE PPG traded up $0.21 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $131.37. 916,077 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,768,790. PPG Industries, Inc. has a twelve month low of $120.32 and a twelve month high of $152.89. The company has a market cap of $30.92 billion, a PE ratio of 22.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.28. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $140.16 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $138.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 1.05.

PPG Industries (NYSE:PPG) last issued its earnings results on Friday, April 19th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.86. PPG Industries had a return on equity of 23.13% and a net margin of 7.74%. The company had revenue of $4.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.43 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.82 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that PPG Industries, Inc. will post 8.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

PPG Industries Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 12th. Investors of record on Friday, May 10th will be issued a $0.65 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 9th. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.98%. PPG Industries’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 43.92%.

PPG Industries declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase plan on Thursday, April 18th that allows the company to buyback $2.50 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the specialty chemicals company to buy up to 8.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

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.