PPG Industries (NYSE:PPG) Approves Share Buyback Plan

PPG Industries (NYSE:PPG) announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program on Thursday, April 18th, RTT News reports. The company plans to buyback $2.50 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the specialty chemicals company to buy up to 8.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

PPG Industries Price Performance

Shares of NYSE PPG opened at $131.13 on Tuesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $140.16 and a 200 day moving average price of $138.99. PPG Industries has a 1-year low of $120.32 and a 1-year high of $152.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 1.05. The company has a market cap of $30.86 billion, a PE ratio of 22.15, a P/E/G ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.28.

PPG Industries (NYSE:PPG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 19th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.86 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.86. The firm had revenue of $4.31 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.43 billion. PPG Industries had a return on equity of 23.13% and a net margin of 7.74%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.82 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that PPG Industries will post 8.46 EPS for the current year.

PPG Industries Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 12th. Investors of record on Friday, May 10th will be paid a $0.65 dividend. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.98%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 9th. PPG Industries’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 43.92%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on PPG shares. Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of PPG Industries from $170.00 to $161.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded PPG Industries from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $150.00 to $163.00 in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on PPG Industries from $156.00 to $141.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. StockNews.com cut shares of PPG Industries from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday. Finally, Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of PPG Industries from $149.00 to $148.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $155.50.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Vincent J. Morales sold 3,400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.94, for a total value of $479,196.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 28,439 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,008,192.66. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.56% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.