Norges Bank Buys Shares of 3,939,179 PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG)

Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 3,939,179 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock, valued at approximately $470,535,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in PPG. Blair William & Co. IL increased its position in shares of PPG Industries by 40.8% in the 4th quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 18,214 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $2,176,000 after purchasing an additional 5,276 shares during the last quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P bought a new stake in PPG Industries in the fourth quarter valued at about $65,000. NEOS Investment Management LLC raised its stake in PPG Industries by 28.5% during the fourth quarter. NEOS Investment Management LLC now owns 11,183 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $1,336,000 after buying an additional 2,483 shares in the last quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd lifted its holdings in PPG Industries by 28.3% during the 4th quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 23,609 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $2,820,000 after buying an additional 5,210 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co increased its holdings in shares of PPG Industries by 12.1% in the 4th quarter. Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co now owns 23,268 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $2,779,000 after acquiring an additional 2,516 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 81.86% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently issued reports on PPG. UBS Group reduced their price objective on PPG Industries from $128.00 to $126.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 31st. KeyCorp lowered shares of PPG Industries from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. Seaport Res Ptn lowered shares of PPG Industries from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on PPG Industries from $150.00 to $135.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut PPG Industries from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $145.00 to $115.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $138.15.

Insider Activity at PPG Industries

In other news, CEO Timothy M. Knavish sold 4,800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 35,833 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,240,835.55. This trade represents a 11.81 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

PPG Industries Stock Down 1.0 %

PPG Industries stock opened at $107.32 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $115.37 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $121.23. The stock has a market cap of $24.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.69, a PEG ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 1.22. PPG Industries, Inc. has a 52 week low of $105.64 and a 52 week high of $145.61. The company has a current ratio of 1.58, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77.

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

PPG Industries Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 21st were issued a $0.68 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 21st. This represents a $2.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.53%. PPG Industries’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 57.51%.

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.