Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC Lowers Holdings in PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG)

Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC trimmed its position in PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG) by 26.8% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 19,153 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 6,995 shares during the quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC’s holdings in PPG Industries were worth $2,411,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in PPG. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of PPG Industries by 17.2% in 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 buying an additional 4,222,402 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of PPG Industries in the 4th quarter worth $554,685,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of PPG Industries by 30.9% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,768,094 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $264,424,000 after acquiring an additional 417,145 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its position in shares of PPG Industries by 549.0% in the 2nd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 256,142 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $32,246,000 after acquiring an additional 216,675 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MEAG MUNICH ERGO Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH bought a new position in shares of PPG Industries in the 1st quarter worth $31,033,000. 81.86% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PPG has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Citigroup reduced their target price on PPG Industries from $145.00 to $144.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. Bank of America reduced their target price on PPG Industries from $152.00 to $150.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price on PPG Industries from $140.00 to $139.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. UBS Group upped their target price on PPG Industries from $140.00 to $142.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, July 19th. Finally, KeyCorp cut their price objective on PPG Industries from $162.00 to $153.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $151.08.

PPG Industries Stock Performance

Shares of PPG stock opened at $126.15 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $29.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.31, a P/E/G ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 1.26. The business’s 50 day moving average is $125.65 and its two-hundred day moving average is $131.62. The company has a current ratio of 1.49, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73. PPG Industries, Inc. has a 12-month low of $118.07 and a 12-month high of $151.16.

PPG Industries (NYSE:PPG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 18th. The specialty chemicals company reported $2.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.48 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $4.79 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.93 billion. PPG Industries had a return on equity of 23.57% and a net margin of 7.98%. PPG Industries’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.25 earnings per share. Analysts expect that PPG Industries, Inc. will post 8.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

PPG Industries Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 12th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 12th will be issued a dividend of $0.68 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 12th. This represents a $2.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.16%. This is a boost from PPG Industries’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.65. PPG Industries’s dividend payout ratio is presently 45.95%.

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.