Miller Financial Services LLC Purchases New Shares in PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG)

Miller Financial Services LLC acquired a new position in PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 1,812 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock, valued at approximately $216,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of PPG. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of PPG Industries during the 4th quarter valued at $82,071,000. State Street Corp boosted its stake in PPG Industries by 4.4% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 11,717,499 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $1,552,100,000 after acquiring an additional 491,774 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in PPG Industries by 5.7% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 8,977,010 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $1,189,095,000 after purchasing an additional 485,597 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its stake in shares of PPG Industries by 68.3% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 873,902 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $115,757,000 after purchasing an additional 354,740 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in shares of PPG Industries by 65.4% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 523,014 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $62,474,000 after purchasing an additional 206,853 shares during the last quarter. 81.86% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at PPG Industries

In other news, CEO Timothy M. Knavish sold 4,800 shares of PPG Industries 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 35,833 shares in the company, valued at $4,240,835.55. This trade represents a 11.81 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.55% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on PPG. UBS Group reduced their price objective on PPG Industries from $128.00 to $126.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 31st. StockNews.com cut shares of PPG Industries from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of PPG Industries from $150.00 to $135.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut shares of PPG Industries from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $145.00 to $115.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Citigroup cut their price target on shares of PPG Industries from $150.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, PPG Industries has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $138.15.

PPG Industries Price Performance

Shares of PPG opened at $113.61 on Wednesday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $116.62 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $122.58. The firm has a market cap of $25.78 billion, a PE ratio of 24.02, a P/E/G ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 1.22. 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, Inc. has a 1-year low of $109.15 and a 1-year high of $145.61.

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, equities analysts anticipate that PPG Industries, Inc. will post 7.95 EPS for the current year.

PPG Industries Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Investors of record on Friday, February 21st will be issued a $0.68 dividend. This represents a $2.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.39%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 21st. PPG Industries’s payout ratio is 57.51%.

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.