PPG Industries (NYSE:PPG) Downgraded to In-Line at Evercore ISI

Evercore ISI cut shares of PPG Industries (NYSE:PPG) from an outperform rating to an in-line rating in a research report sent to investors on Monday morning, Marketbeat.com reports. The brokerage currently has $152.00 target price on the specialty chemicals company’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on PPG. Citigroup lowered their price target on PPG Industries from $170.00 to $161.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Robert W. Baird reaffirmed an outperform rating and issued a $150.00 price target on shares of PPG Industries in a research report on Friday, January 19th. Redburn Atlantic downgraded PPG Industries from a buy rating to a neutral rating and set a $160.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on PPG Industries in a research report on Friday, March 1st. They issued a peer perform rating on the stock. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised PPG Industries from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating and raised their price target for the company from $150.00 to $163.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $155.50.

PPG Industries Trading Up 0.2 %

PPG Industries stock opened at $131.13 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 1.05. The company has a market capitalization of $30.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.15, a PEG ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.28. PPG Industries has a one year low of $120.32 and a one year high of $152.89. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $140.16 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $138.99.

PPG Industries (NYSE:PPG) last posted 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. The firm had revenue of $4.31 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.43 billion. PPG Industries had a net margin of 7.74% and a return on equity of 23.13%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.82 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that PPG Industries will post 8.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PPG Industries Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.98%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 9th. PPG Industries’s dividend payout ratio is 43.92%.

PPG Industries declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase 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 buy up to 8.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other PPG Industries news, CFO Vincent J. Morales sold 3,400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 1st. The shares were 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 owns 28,439 shares in the company, valued at $4,008,192.66. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.56% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PPG. Norges Bank bought a new position in PPG Industries during the fourth quarter worth about $554,685,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of PPG Industries by 17.2% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,480,664 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $3,661,083,000 after buying an additional 3,600,558 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of PPG Industries by 41.1% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,294,142 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $427,580,000 after buying an additional 959,849 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its holdings in shares of PPG Industries by 4,484.1% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 723,690 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $108,228,000 after buying an additional 707,903 shares in the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of PPG Industries during the fourth quarter worth approximately $74,492,000. Institutional investors own 81.86% of the company’s stock.

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.