PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG) Shares Acquired by Plato Investment Management Ltd

Plato Investment Management Ltd boosted its holdings in PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG) by 3.2% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 23,956 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after acquiring an additional 751 shares during the period. Plato Investment Management Ltd’s holdings in PPG Industries were worth $3,016,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PPG. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC grew its position in shares of PPG Industries by 49.5% in the fourth quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 28,345 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $4,239,000 after purchasing an additional 9,384 shares during the last quarter. Vest Financial LLC grew its holdings in PPG Industries by 28.9% during the 2nd quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 337,726 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $42,516,000 after buying an additional 75,620 shares during the last quarter. BDF Gestion purchased a new position in PPG Industries during the second quarter worth $3,452,000. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System raised its holdings in shares of PPG Industries by 8.8% in the first quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 274,143 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $36,620,000 after acquiring an additional 22,079 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of PPG Industries by 17.2% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 28,703,066 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $4,159,074,000 after acquiring an additional 4,222,402 shares in the last quarter. 81.86% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

PPG Industries Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of PPG opened at $126.98 on Friday. PPG Industries, Inc. has a twelve month low of $118.07 and a twelve month high of $151.16. The firm has a market capitalization of $29.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a current ratio of 1.49, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $125.73 and its 200 day simple moving average is $131.23.

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

PPG Industries Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 12th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 12th were paid a dividend of $0.68 per share. This is an increase from PPG Industries’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.65. This represents a $2.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.14%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 12th. PPG Industries’s payout ratio is currently 45.95%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently commented on PPG. Citigroup dropped their price objective on PPG Industries from $145.00 to $144.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. KeyCorp lowered their price target on shares of PPG Industries from $162.00 to $153.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 22nd. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of PPG Industries from $140.00 to $142.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, July 19th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on shares of PPG Industries from $140.00 to $139.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Finally, Barclays cut their price target on PPG Industries from $148.00 to $144.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $151.08.

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.