Meridian Wealth Partners LLC Acquires Shares of 130,248 PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG)

Meridian Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 130,248 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,558,000. PPG Industries accounts for 2.4% of Meridian Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 14th largest holding. Meridian Wealth Partners LLC owned approximately 0.06% of PPG Industries as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of PPG. First Eagle Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in PPG Industries by 138.9% in 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 acquiring an additional 1,858,895 shares during the period. Cooke & Bieler LP acquired a new position in shares of PPG Industries during the fourth quarter worth $107,850,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of PPG Industries in the fourth quarter valued at $82,071,000. State Street Corp grew its holdings in PPG Industries by 4.4% during 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 purchasing an additional 491,774 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in PPG Industries by 5.7% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 8,977,010 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $1,189,095,000 after buying an additional 485,597 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.86% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Timothy M. Knavish sold 4,800 shares of PPG Industries stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $118.35, for a total value of $568,080.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 35,833 shares in the company, valued at $4,240,835.55. This trade represents a 11.81 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. StockNews.com cut shares of PPG Industries from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on PPG Industries from $153.00 to $135.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on PPG Industries from $128.00 to $126.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 31st. KeyCorp cut PPG Industries from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Argus lowered shares of PPG Industries from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $138.15.

PPG Industries Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:PPG opened at $110.75 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $25.14 billion, a PE ratio of 23.42, a P/E/G ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 1.22. PPG Industries, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $109.15 and a fifty-two week high of $145.61. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $116.09 and a 200 day simple moving average of $121.73. The company has a quick ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 1.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77.

PPG Industries (NYSE:PPG) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.61 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.65 by ($0.04). PPG Industries had a net margin of 6.41% and a return on equity of 23.78%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that PPG Industries, Inc. will post 7.95 EPS for the current year.

PPG Industries Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 21st were paid a $0.68 dividend. This represents a $2.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 21st. PPG Industries’s payout ratio is 57.51%.

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.