Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund Sells 684 Shares of PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG)

Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund reduced its stake in PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG) by 9.0% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 6,907 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 684 shares during the quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund’s holdings in PPG Industries were worth $915,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Archer Investment Corp acquired a new position in shares of PPG Industries during the third quarter worth about $286,000. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its position in shares of PPG Industries by 4.4% in the third quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 20,541 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $2,721,000 after purchasing an additional 868 shares in the last quarter. Empirical Finance LLC boosted its stake in shares of PPG Industries by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 8,148 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $1,079,000 after buying an additional 172 shares during the last quarter. Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in PPG Industries by 1.5% in the third quarter. Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC now owns 46,010 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $6,095,000 after purchasing an additional 667 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CIBC Asset Management Inc grew its stake in shares of PPG Industries by 7.5% in the third quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 34,101 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $4,517,000 after buying an additional 2,382 shares in the last quarter. 81.86% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Anne M. Foulkes sold 1,985 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $125.80, for a total transaction of $249,713.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 13,454 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,692,513.20. This represents a 12.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.55% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on PPG. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of PPG Industries from $148.00 to $144.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. Mizuho reduced their price target on PPG Industries from $160.00 to $150.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on PPG Industries from $155.00 to $145.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price on PPG Industries from $138.00 to $136.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Bank of America cut their price target on PPG Industries from $152.00 to $150.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, PPG Industries currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $149.93.

PPG Industries Trading Down 0.8 %

PPG opened at $122.53 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $28.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.42, a P/E/G ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $127.37 and a 200 day simple moving average of $127.78. 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, Inc. has a twelve month low of $118.07 and a twelve month high of $151.16.

PPG Industries (NYSE:PPG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The specialty chemicals company reported $2.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.15 by ($0.02). PPG Industries had a return on equity of 23.63% and a net margin of 8.24%. The firm had revenue of $4.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.66 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.07 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that PPG Industries, Inc. will post 8.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

PPG Industries Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 12th will be given a dividend of $0.68 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 12th. This represents a $2.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.22%. PPG Industries’s payout ratio is 43.11%.

PPG Industries 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.