Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Sells 1,012 Shares of PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG)

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System lowered its holdings in shares of PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG) by 7.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 12,345 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 1,012 shares during the period. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in PPG Industries were worth $1,475,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Alpha DNA Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of PPG Industries by 1.1% during the third quarter. Alpha DNA Investment Management LLC now owns 8,344 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $1,105,000 after acquiring an additional 92 shares during the period. Mutual Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of PPG Industries by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC now owns 2,666 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $319,000 after acquiring an additional 92 shares during the period. Groupama Asset Managment boosted its holdings in shares of PPG Industries by 1.2% during the third quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 7,750 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $1,027,000 after acquiring an additional 93 shares during the period. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB boosted its holdings in shares of PPG Industries by 28.3% during the fourth quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 431 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $51,000 after acquiring an additional 95 shares during the period. Finally, Kingsview Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of PPG Industries by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,288 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $990,000 after acquiring an additional 103 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 81.86% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on PPG shares. StockNews.com cut PPG Industries from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on PPG Industries from $128.00 to $120.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Seaport Res Ptn downgraded shares of PPG Industries from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on shares of PPG Industries from $153.00 to $135.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of PPG Industries from $128.00 to $126.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, PPG Industries has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $138.15.

PPG Industries Stock Down 0.5 %

Shares of PPG opened at $110.75 on Friday. PPG Industries, Inc. has a one year low of $109.15 and a one year high of $145.61. The company has a market cap of $25.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.42, a P/E/G ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 1.58 and a quick ratio of 1.13. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $116.09 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $121.78.

PPG Industries (NYSE:PPG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.61 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.65 by ($0.04). PPG Industries had a net margin of 6.41% and a return on equity of 23.78%. Research analysts forecast that PPG Industries, Inc. will post 7.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

PPG Industries Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 21st were issued a dividend of $0.68 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 21st. This represents a $2.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.46%. PPG Industries’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 57.51%.

Insider Transactions at PPG Industries

In other news, CEO Timothy M. Knavish sold 4,800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $118.35, for a total transaction of $568,080.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 35,833 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,240,835.55. This represents a 11.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company 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.