Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. Reduces Stake in PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG)

Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. reduced its holdings in PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG) by 36.6% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 10,566 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 6,106 shares during the quarter. Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in PPG Industries were worth $1,400,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vest Financial LLC lifted its position in shares of PPG Industries by 28.9% in the 2nd quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 337,726 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $42,516,000 after purchasing an additional 75,620 shares during the period. BDF Gestion bought a new stake in PPG Industries during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $3,452,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of PPG Industries by 17.2% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 28,703,066 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $4,159,074,000 after acquiring an additional 4,222,402 shares during the period. Ritholtz Wealth Management bought a new position in shares of PPG Industries in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $604,000. Finally, Swedbank AB lifted its stake in shares of PPG Industries by 6.3% in the 2nd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 158,761 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $19,986,000 after purchasing an additional 9,412 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 81.86% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PPG has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of PPG Industries from $148.00 to $144.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $155.00 target price (down from $160.00) on shares of PPG Industries in a research note on Monday, October 21st. UBS Group raised their price target on PPG Industries from $140.00 to $142.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, July 19th. Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of PPG Industries from $145.00 to $144.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. Finally, Bank of America decreased their target price on shares of PPG Industries from $152.00 to $150.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $149.93.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Anne M. Foulkes sold 1,985 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $125.80, for a total value of $249,713.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 13,454 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,692,513.20. This represents a 12.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.55% of the company’s stock.

PPG Industries Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of PPG stock opened at $123.52 on Friday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $127.45 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $127.90. The stock has a market cap of $28.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.58, a P/E/G ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 1.26. PPG Industries, Inc. has a 12 month low of $118.07 and a 12 month high of $151.16. The company has a current ratio of 1.58, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77.

PPG Industries (NYSE:PPG) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The specialty chemicals company reported $2.13 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.15 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $4.58 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.66 billion. PPG Industries had a return on equity of 23.63% and a net margin of 8.24%. PPG Industries’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.07 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that PPG Industries, Inc. will post 8.18 earnings per share for the current year.

PPG Industries Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 12th will be paid a dividend of $0.68 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 12th. This represents a $2.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.20%. PPG Industries’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 43.11%.

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.