West Tower Group LLC Purchases New Shares in PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG)

West Tower Group LLC purchased a new stake in PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 2,100 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock, valued at approximately $278,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Bank of Montreal Can boosted its position in shares of PPG Industries by 13.5% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 346,860 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $46,673,000 after purchasing an additional 41,167 shares during the period. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC acquired a new stake in PPG Industries during the 3rd quarter worth about $469,000. Mirabella Financial Services LLP boosted its position in PPG Industries by 92.0% during the 3rd quarter. Mirabella Financial Services LLP now owns 10,556 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $1,398,000 after acquiring an additional 5,059 shares during the period. Truvestments Capital LLC acquired a new stake in PPG Industries during the 3rd quarter worth about $194,000. Finally, Independent Advisor Alliance boosted its position in PPG Industries by 4.5% during the 3rd quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 9,702 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $1,285,000 after acquiring an additional 417 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.86% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other PPG Industries news, VP Anne M. Foulkes sold 1,985 shares of PPG Industries stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $125.80, for a total value of $249,713.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 13,454 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,692,513.20. The trade was a 12.86 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.56% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PPG has been the subject of a number of research reports. Mizuho decreased their price objective on PPG Industries from $160.00 to $150.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on PPG Industries from $155.00 to $145.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on PPG Industries from $138.00 to $136.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. StockNews.com upgraded PPG Industries from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $155.00 price target (down from $160.00) on shares of PPG Industries in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $149.93.

PPG Industries Stock Up 2.6 %

Shares of PPG stock opened at $125.81 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $126.97 and its 200 day simple moving average is $127.34. 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 twelve month low of $118.07 and a twelve month high of $151.16. The company has a market capitalization of $29.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.94, a PEG ratio of 1.88 and a beta of 1.26.

PPG Industries (NYSE:PPG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 16th. The specialty chemicals company reported $2.13 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.15 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $4.58 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.66 billion. PPG Industries had a net margin of 8.24% and a return on equity of 23.63%. The firm’s revenue was down 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.07 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that PPG Industries, Inc. will post 8.18 EPS for the current year.

PPG Industries Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 12th will be given a $0.68 dividend. This represents a $2.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.16%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 12th. PPG Industries’s dividend payout ratio is currently 43.11%.

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.