Vestcor Inc Sells 1,048 Shares of PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG)

Vestcor Inc reduced its position in shares of PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG) by 22.2% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 3,671 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 1,048 shares during the quarter. Vestcor Inc’s holdings in PPG Industries were worth $439,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Cooke & Bieler LP acquired a new stake in shares of PPG Industries during the fourth quarter worth $107,850,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in PPG Industries in the 4th quarter worth about $82,071,000. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in PPG Industries by 4.4% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 11,717,499 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $1,552,100,000 after purchasing an additional 491,774 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in shares of PPG Industries by 5.7% during the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC increased its holdings 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 worth $115,757,000 after purchasing an additional 354,740 shares during the period. 81.86% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. UBS Group cut their price target on PPG Industries from $128.00 to $126.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Barclays reissued an “equal weight” rating on shares of PPG Industries in a report on Monday, February 3rd. KeyCorp downgraded PPG Industries from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded shares of PPG Industries from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $145.00 to $115.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Argus lowered shares of PPG Industries from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $138.15.

PPG Industries Stock Performance

Shares of PPG Industries stock opened at $113.85 on Tuesday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $116.33 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $122.16. The firm has a market capitalization of $25.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.07, 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. PPG Industries, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $109.15 and a fifty-two week high of $145.61.

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

PPG Industries Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Timothy M. Knavish sold 4,800 shares of the firm’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 owns 35,833 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,240,835.55. This trade represents a 11.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.33% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.