California Public Employees Retirement System Decreases Stock Position in PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG)

California Public Employees Retirement System lessened its position in PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG) by 4.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 425,102 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 18,189 shares during the quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System owned about 0.18% of PPG Industries worth $63,574,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of PPG Industries in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. lifted its position in PPG Industries by 588.5% during the fourth quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 179 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 153 shares in the last quarter. CVA Family Office LLC purchased a new position in PPG Industries during the fourth quarter worth approximately $28,000. Financial Connections Group Inc. purchased a new position in PPG Industries during the fourth quarter worth approximately $30,000. Finally, OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new position in PPG Industries during the third quarter worth approximately $25,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.86% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Robert W. Baird reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $150.00 price objective on shares of PPG Industries in a research report on Friday, January 19th. Wolfe Research began coverage on PPG Industries in a research note on Friday, March 1st. They issued a “peer perform” rating for the company. UBS Group dropped their price objective on PPG Industries from $156.00 to $150.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 19th. Bank of America dropped their price objective on PPG Industries from $167.00 to $164.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on PPG Industries from $168.00 to $165.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $155.47.

Insider Transactions at PPG Industries

In other news, CFO Vincent J. Morales sold 3,400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.94, for a total transaction of $479,196.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 28,439 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,008,192.66. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.55% of the company’s stock.

PPG Industries Trading Down 1.0 %

PPG opened at $129.23 on Friday. PPG Industries, Inc. has a 12 month low of $120.32 and a 12 month high of $152.89. The stock has a market capitalization of $30.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.83, a PEG ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 1.55 and a quick ratio of 1.05. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $139.54 and a 200 day moving average price of $138.85.

PPG Industries (NYSE:PPG) last released its earnings results on Friday, April 19th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.86 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.86. PPG Industries had a return on equity of 22.98% and a net margin of 7.74%. The firm had revenue of $4.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.43 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.82 EPS. PPG Industries’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that PPG Industries, Inc. will post 8.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PPG Industries Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 10th will be given a dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 9th. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.01%. PPG Industries’s dividend payout ratio is currently 43.92%.

PPG Industries declared that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Thursday, April 18th that allows the company to buyback $2.50 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the specialty chemicals company to purchase up to 8.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

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.