Wolverine Asset Management LLC Trims Holdings in PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG)

Wolverine Asset Management LLC decreased its stake in shares of PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG) by 28.6% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 10,000 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 4,000 shares during the quarter. Wolverine Asset Management LLC’s holdings in PPG Industries were worth $1,496,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PPG. Wedmont Private Capital raised its holdings in shares of PPG Industries by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 2,464 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $363,000 after acquiring an additional 70 shares during the period. Barrett & Company Inc. raised its stake in PPG Industries by 10.6% during the fourth quarter. Barrett & Company Inc. now owns 763 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $114,000 after purchasing an additional 73 shares during the period. CWA Asset Management Group LLC raised its stake in PPG Industries by 2.0% during the third quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 4,052 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $526,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares during the period. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV raised its stake in PPG Industries by 20.9% during the fourth quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 462 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $69,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares during the period. Finally, WASHINGTON TRUST Co raised its position in shares of PPG Industries by 5.8% during the 4th quarter. WASHINGTON TRUST Co now owns 1,712 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $256,000 after buying an additional 94 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.86% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PPG has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Redburn Atlantic downgraded PPG Industries from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $160.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. Bank of America decreased their target price on shares of PPG Industries from $167.00 to $164.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of PPG Industries from $156.00 to $150.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on shares of PPG Industries from $156.00 to $141.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Finally, Robert W. Baird reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $150.00 price objective on shares of PPG Industries in a research report on Friday, January 19th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, PPG Industries has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $155.47.

Insider Activity 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 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.55% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

PPG Industries Stock Up 0.1 %

PPG stock opened at $130.52 on Thursday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $139.81 and its 200 day moving average price is $138.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.55. PPG Industries, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $120.32 and a fifty-two week high of $152.89. The firm has a market capitalization of $30.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.05, a PEG ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.28.

PPG Industries (NYSE:PPG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 19th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.86 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.43 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.82 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that PPG Industries, Inc. will post 8.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

PPG Industries Announces Dividend

The firm 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. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.99%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 9th. PPG Industries’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 43.92%.

PPG Industries announced that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Thursday, April 18th that authorizes the company to buyback $2.50 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the specialty chemicals company to reacquire up to 8.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

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.