Loomis Sayles & Co. L P Acquires Shares of 543 PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG)

Loomis Sayles & Co. L P bought a new stake in PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 543 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock, valued at approximately $65,000.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. First Eagle Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in PPG Industries by 138.9% during the 4th quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 3,196,951 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $381,876,000 after buying an additional 1,858,895 shares during the last quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP acquired a new position in PPG Industries in the fourth quarter worth $107,850,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in PPG Industries by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 29,369,691 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $3,508,210,000 after purchasing an additional 756,937 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of PPG Industries during the fourth quarter worth $82,071,000. Finally, State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 491,774 shares during the period. 81.86% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

PPG Industries Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE PPG opened at $107.32 on Monday. PPG Industries, Inc. has a 1 year low of $105.64 and a 1 year high of $145.61. The firm has a market cap of $24.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.69, a PEG ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 1.22. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $115.37 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $121.17. 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 (NYSE:PPG) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.61 earnings per share (EPS) 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%. Research analysts forecast that PPG Industries, Inc. will post 7.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

PPG Industries Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Investors of record on Friday, February 21st were issued a dividend of $0.68 per share. This represents a $2.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.53%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 21st. PPG Industries’s payout ratio is 57.51%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Timothy M. Knavish sold 4,800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $118.35, for a total transaction of $568,080.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 35,833 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,240,835.55. This trade represents a 11.81 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on PPG. Citigroup cut their target price 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. Argus lowered PPG Industries from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 10th. UBS Group lowered their price objective 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. Mizuho cut their target price on PPG Industries from $150.00 to $140.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, KeyCorp lowered shares of PPG Industries from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, PPG Industries presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $138.15.

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.