PPG Industries (NYSE:PPG) Issues Earnings Results

PPG Industries (NYSE:PPG) issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday. The specialty chemicals company reported $2.50 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.48 by $0.02, Briefing.com reports. PPG Industries had a return on equity of 23.50% and a net margin of 7.98%. The company had revenue of $4.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.93 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.25 earnings per share. PPG Industries’s revenue was down 1.6% on a year-over-year basis.

PPG Industries Price Performance

Shares of PPG Industries stock opened at $128.04 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.08, a current ratio of 1.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73. The company has a market cap of $30.03 billion, a PE ratio of 21.63, a P/E/G ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 1.26. The business has a 50 day moving average of $129.62 and a 200 day moving average of $136.30. PPG Industries has a 52 week low of $120.32 and a 52 week high of $152.60.

PPG Industries Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 12th. Investors of record on Monday, August 12th will be issued a dividend of $0.68 per share. This represents a $2.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.12%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 12th. This is an increase from PPG Industries’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.65. PPG Industries’s dividend payout ratio is currently 45.95%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently commented on PPG. UBS Group boosted their price objective on PPG Industries from $140.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday. Barclays cut their price objective on PPG Industries from $149.00 to $148.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 22nd. StockNews.com raised PPG Industries from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 30th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded PPG Industries from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $150.00 to $163.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on PPG Industries from $168.00 to $165.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, PPG Industries has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $154.93.

PPG Industries declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase plan 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 plans are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Timothy M. Knavish purchased 2,061 shares of PPG Industries stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 8th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $133.24 per share, with a total value of $274,607.64. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 35,833 shares in the company, valued at $4,774,388.92. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.55% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.