PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG) Shares Sold by Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC

Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC trimmed its position in PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG) by 98.2% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 1,714 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 94,400 shares during the period. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC’s holdings in PPG Industries were worth $205,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake 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 buying an additional 756,937 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in PPG Industries by 17.7% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 10,567,051 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $1,262,234,000 after acquiring an additional 1,590,041 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in PPG Industries by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,546,472 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $660,752,000 after purchasing an additional 93,455 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in shares of PPG Industries by 6.1% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,726,630 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $564,596,000 after purchasing an additional 271,699 shares during the period. Finally, Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of PPG Industries by 482.2% in the 4th quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC now owns 4,337,649 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $518,132,000 after purchasing an additional 3,592,655 shares during the period. 81.86% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on PPG shares. Fermium Researc raised PPG Industries to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. StockNews.com downgraded shares of PPG Industries from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on PPG Industries from $112.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of PPG Industries from $115.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on PPG Industries from $110.00 to $111.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $128.42.

PPG Industries Stock Performance

NYSE:PPG opened at $113.48 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $25.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $106.54 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $115.41. PPG Industries, Inc. has a 52 week low of $90.24 and a 52 week high of $137.24. The company has a quick ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 1.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77.

PPG Industries (NYSE:PPG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.72 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $3.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.67 billion. PPG Industries had a net margin of 6.41% and a return on equity of 23.78%. The firm’s revenue was down 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.87 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that PPG Industries, Inc. will post 7.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PPG Industries Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 12th will be paid a $0.68 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 12th. This represents a $2.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.40%. PPG Industries’s dividend payout ratio is currently 58.24%.

Insider Activity at PPG Industries

In other PPG Industries news, CEO Timothy M. Knavish sold 4,800 shares of PPG Industries stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $118.35, for a total transaction of $568,080.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 35,833 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,240,835.55. The trade was a 11.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.33% 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.