GAMMA Investing LLC Purchases New Position in PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG)

GAMMA Investing LLC acquired a new position in shares of PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 2,873 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock, valued at approximately $405,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Invesco Ltd. grew its position in shares of PPG Industries by 41.1% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,294,142 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $427,580,000 after buying an additional 959,849 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley boosted its position in shares of PPG Industries by 12.4% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 3,102,602 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $402,718,000 after purchasing an additional 341,977 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in PPG Industries by 5.2% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,374,093 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $308,157,000 after buying an additional 117,526 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in PPG Industries by 0.7% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,342,002 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $174,192,000 after buying an additional 9,530 shares during the period. Finally, DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale lifted its stake in PPG Industries by 16.7% in the fourth quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 1,041,804 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $154,219,000 after buying an additional 149,387 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.86% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on PPG. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price target on shares of PPG Industries from $156.00 to $141.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. 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. StockNews.com lowered shares of PPG Industries from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price objective on PPG Industries from $160.00 to $155.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Finally, Wolfe Research started coverage on shares of PPG Industries in a report on Friday, March 1st. They set a “peer perform” rating for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $155.50.

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 transaction of $479,196.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 28,439 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,008,192.66. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.56% of the stock is owned by insiders.

PPG Industries Trading Up 0.3 %

PPG stock traded up $0.43 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $130.86. The stock had a trading volume of 649,644 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,777,865. PPG Industries, Inc. has a 12-month low of $120.32 and a 12-month high of $152.89. The firm has a market cap of $30.69 billion, a PE ratio of 22.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.28. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $140.00 and its 200 day moving average price is $138.97. 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 (NYSE:PPG) last released its earnings results on Friday, April 19th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.86 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 firm had revenue of $4.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.43 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.82 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that PPG Industries, Inc. will post 8.47 earnings per share 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 given a $0.65 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 9th. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.99%. PPG Industries’s dividend payout ratio is presently 43.92%.

PPG Industries declared that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Thursday, April 18th that permits the company to repurchase $2.50 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the specialty chemicals company to repurchase up to 8.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is 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.