PPG Industries (NYSE:PPG) Upgraded at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of PPG Industries (NYSE:PPG) from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a research note released on Thursday morning.

A number of other research analysts have also recently commented on PPG. Mizuho dropped their price target on PPG Industries from $160.00 to $150.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $155.00 target price (down from $160.00) on shares of PPG Industries in a research report on Monday, October 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on PPG Industries from $155.00 to $145.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on PPG Industries from $138.00 to $136.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $149.93.

PPG Industries Price Performance

Shares of PPG stock opened at $124.17 on Thursday. PPG Industries has a twelve month low of $118.07 and a twelve month high of $151.16. The company has a quick ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 1.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $125.65 and a 200 day simple moving average of $126.53. The company has a market cap of $28.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.68, a P/E/G ratio of 1.88 and a beta of 1.24.

PPG Industries (NYSE:PPG) last posted 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%. The firm’s revenue was down 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.07 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that PPG Industries will post 8.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

PPG Industries Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 12th. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 12th were paid a dividend of $0.68 per share. This represents a $2.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.19%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, November 12th. PPG Industries’s dividend payout ratio is presently 43.11%.

Insider Buying and Selling at PPG Industries

In other PPG Industries news, VP Anne M. Foulkes sold 1,985 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $125.80, for a total value of $249,713.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 13,454 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,692,513.20. The trade was a 12.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.55% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of PPG Industries

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Financial Connections Group Inc. bought a new position in PPG Industries during the second quarter worth $25,000. Pin Oak Investment Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of PPG Industries by 465.1% in the 3rd quarter. Pin Oak Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 243 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the period. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new stake in PPG Industries in the 3rd quarter valued at about $34,000. Rothschild Investment LLC acquired a new position in PPG Industries during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $37,000. Finally, Hara Capital LLC bought a new position in PPG Industries in the third quarter worth approximately $40,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.86% of the company’s stock.

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.