PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG) Raises Dividend to $0.68 Per Share

PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, July 18th, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Monday, August 12th will be paid a dividend of 0.68 per share by the specialty chemicals company on Thursday, September 12th. This represents a $2.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.28%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 12th. This is a positive change from PPG Industries’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.65.

PPG Industries has increased its dividend by an average of 6.6% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 54 consecutive years. PPG Industries has a dividend payout ratio of 29.9% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect PPG Industries to earn $9.23 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.72 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 29.5%.

PPG Industries Stock Performance

NYSE:PPG traded up $0.01 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $119.24. The company had a trading volume of 1,092,940 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,665,259. 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 has a 52 week low of $118.07 and a 52 week high of $151.16. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $127.05 and its 200-day moving average price is $134.10. The firm has a market cap of $27.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.14, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.26.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Evercore ISI lowered shares of PPG Industries from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and set a $152.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of PPG Industries from $148.00 to $144.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price objective on shares of PPG Industries from $160.00 to $155.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 22nd. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on shares of PPG Industries from $165.00 to $161.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. Finally, Citigroup cut their target price on shares of PPG Industries from $145.00 to $144.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $151.08.

PPG Industries announced that its board has approved a share buyback plan on Thursday, April 18th that permits the company to buyback $2.50 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the specialty chemicals company to reacquire up to 8.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

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.