Timothy M. Knavish Sells 4,800 Shares of PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG) Stock

PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG) CEO Timothy M. Knavish sold 4,800 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $118.35, for a total value of $568,080.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 35,833 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,240,835.55. This represents a 11.81 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink.

PPG Industries Trading Down 2.0 %

PPG stock opened at $116.82 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 1.58 and a quick ratio of 1.13. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $118.60 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $123.29. PPG Industries, Inc. has a 1-year low of $110.20 and a 1-year high of $145.60. The company has a market capitalization of $27.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.70, a PEG ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 1.23.

PPG Industries (NYSE:PPG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.61 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.65 by ($0.04). PPG Industries had a return on equity of 23.78% and a net margin of 6.41%. Research analysts anticipate that PPG Industries, Inc. will post 7.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

PPG Industries Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.68 per share. This represents a $2.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.33%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 21st. PPG Industries’s dividend payout ratio is presently 57.51%.

Institutional Trading of PPG Industries

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of PPG. Norges Bank bought a new stake in PPG Industries in the fourth quarter worth $470,535,000. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of PPG Industries by 482.2% in the 4th quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC now owns 4,337,649 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $518,132,000 after buying an additional 3,592,655 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in shares of PPG Industries by 815.4% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 3,031,164 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $362,074,000 after buying an additional 2,700,018 shares in the last quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of PPG Industries by 138.9% in the 4th quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 3,196,951 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $381,876,000 after acquiring an additional 1,858,895 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in shares of PPG Industries by 17.7% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 10,567,051 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $1,262,234,000 after acquiring an additional 1,590,041 shares during the last quarter. 81.86% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on PPG. Mizuho lowered their price objective on shares of PPG Industries from $150.00 to $140.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of PPG Industries from $150.00 to $135.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on PPG Industries from $128.00 to $120.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Barclays lowered their target price on PPG Industries from $144.00 to $125.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded PPG Industries from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $145.00 to $115.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $138.15.

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.