Retirement Systems of Alabama Has $7.77 Million Stake in PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG)

Retirement Systems of Alabama cut its stake in PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG) by 2.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 51,967 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 1,285 shares during the quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama’s holdings in PPG Industries were worth $7,772,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. grew its stake in PPG Industries by 6.7% during the fourth quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. now owns 11,004 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $1,646,000 after acquiring an additional 690 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its stake in PPG Industries by 11.0% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 358,333 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $46,512,000 after buying an additional 35,571 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC grew its position in PPG Industries by 137.5% during the fourth quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 34,937 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $5,224,000 after buying an additional 20,226 shares in the last quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. increased its stake in PPG Industries by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. now owns 8,479 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $1,101,000 after acquiring an additional 192 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Financial Counselors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of PPG Industries by 6.4% in the 3rd quarter. Financial Counselors Inc. now owns 1,883 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $244,000 after acquiring an additional 114 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 81.86% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at PPG Industries

In other news, CFO Vincent J. Morales sold 3,400 shares of the business’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 transaction of $479,196.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 28,439 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,008,192.66. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.55% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

PPG Industries Stock Performance

Shares of PPG stock opened at $132.92 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a current ratio of 1.55. PPG Industries, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $120.32 and a fifty-two week high of $152.89. The company has a market capitalization of $31.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.45, a PEG ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 1.30. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $138.38 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $138.87.

PPG Industries (NYSE:PPG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 19th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.86 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.86. PPG Industries had a net margin of 7.74% and a return on equity of 22.98%. The business had revenue of $4.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.43 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.82 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that PPG Industries, Inc. will post 8.45 earnings per share for the current year.

PPG Industries announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase plan on Thursday, April 18th that authorizes the company to buyback $2.50 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the specialty chemicals company to reacquire up to 8.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

PPG Industries Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 12th. Investors of record on Friday, May 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 9th. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.96%. PPG Industries’s dividend payout ratio is presently 43.92%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PPG has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Evercore ISI downgraded shares of PPG Industries from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and set a $152.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of PPG Industries from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $150.00 to $163.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of PPG Industries from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded PPG Industries from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on PPG Industries from $156.00 to $141.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $155.47.

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.