Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS Sells 1,457 Shares of PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG)

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS cut its holdings in PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG) by 2.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 49,330 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 1,457 shares during the period. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS’s holdings in PPG Industries were worth $5,892,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Legend Financial Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in PPG Industries in the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Pin Oak Investment Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in PPG Industries by 465.1% in the third quarter. Pin Oak Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 243 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Albion Financial Group UT bought a new stake in PPG Industries in the fourth quarter worth $38,000. Crews Bank & Trust bought a new stake in PPG Industries in the fourth quarter worth $42,000. Finally, Sugar Maple Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of PPG Industries during the fourth quarter valued at about $44,000. 81.86% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently commented on PPG shares. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on shares of PPG Industries from $128.00 to $120.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of PPG Industries from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price objective on shares of PPG Industries from $150.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Argus downgraded shares of PPG Industries from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of PPG Industries from $128.00 to $126.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $138.15.

Insider Transactions at PPG Industries

In other news, CEO Timothy M. Knavish sold 4,800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $118.35, for a total value of $568,080.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 35,833 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,240,835.55. This represents a 11.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

PPG Industries Price Performance

Shares of PPG opened at $110.75 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $25.14 billion, a PE ratio of 23.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a current ratio of 1.58. PPG Industries, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $109.15 and a fifty-two week high of $145.61. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $116.09 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $121.73.

PPG Industries (NYSE:PPG) last announced 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%. Analysts anticipate that PPG Industries, Inc. will post 7.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PPG Industries Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 21st were issued a $0.68 dividend. This represents a $2.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.46%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 21st. PPG Industries’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.