Allianz SE Purchases New Shares in PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG)

Allianz SE acquired a new stake in PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund acquired 12,705 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,513,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in PPG. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of PPG Industries in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $470,535,000. First Eagle Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of PPG Industries by 138.9% during 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 period. Cooke & Bieler LP acquired a new stake in shares of PPG Industries during the 4th quarter worth $107,850,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of PPG Industries by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 29,369,691 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $3,508,210,000 after purchasing an additional 756,937 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in PPG Industries in the fourth quarter valued at about $82,071,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.86% of the company’s stock.

PPG Industries Trading Down 1.0 %

PPG opened at $107.32 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 1.58 and a quick ratio of 1.13. PPG Industries, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $105.64 and a fifty-two week high of $145.61. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $115.37 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $121.20. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.69, a PEG ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 1.22.

PPG Industries (NYSE:PPG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.61 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.65 by ($0.04). PPG Industries had a net margin of 6.41% and a return on equity of 23.78%. As a group, research analysts predict that PPG Industries, Inc. will post 7.95 earnings per share for the current year.

PPG Industries Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Investors of record on Friday, February 21st were issued a $0.68 dividend. This represents a $2.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 21st. PPG Industries’s payout ratio is presently 57.51%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have commented on PPG shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered shares of PPG Industries from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $145.00 to $115.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of PPG Industries from $150.00 to $135.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of PPG Industries from $128.00 to $126.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on PPG Industries from $153.00 to $135.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, StockNews.com cut PPG Industries from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, PPG Industries has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $138.15.

Insider Buying and Selling at PPG Industries

In other news, CEO Timothy M. Knavish sold 4,800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $118.35, for a total value of $568,080.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 35,833 shares of the company’s stock, 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 the SEC website. Insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

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.