United Super Pty Ltd in its capacity as Trustee for the Construction & Building Unions Superannuation Fund Invests $538,000 in PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG)

United Super Pty Ltd in its capacity as Trustee for the Construction & Building Unions Superannuation Fund purchased a new stake in shares of PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 4,500 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock, valued at approximately $538,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of PPG. First Eagle Investment Management LLC raised its position in PPG Industries by 138.9% in the fourth 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 purchased a new position in PPG Industries in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $107,850,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in PPG Industries by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 29,369,691 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $3,508,210,000 after purchasing an additional 756,937 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in PPG Industries in the fourth quarter worth $82,071,000. Finally, State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of PPG Industries by 4.4% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 11,717,499 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $1,552,100,000 after buying an additional 491,774 shares during the period. 81.86% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at PPG Industries

In other PPG Industries news, CEO Timothy M. Knavish sold 4,800 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $118.35, for a total transaction of $568,080.00. Following the transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. KeyCorp downgraded PPG Industries from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their target price on shares of PPG Industries from $150.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Seaport Res Ptn cut shares of PPG Industries from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded shares of PPG Industries from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $145.00 to $115.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Argus downgraded PPG Industries from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, PPG Industries presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $138.15.

PPG Industries Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of PPG Industries stock opened at $111.88 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 1.58 and a quick ratio of 1.13. PPG Industries, Inc. has a 1 year low of $108.25 and a 1 year high of $145.61. The firm has a market cap of $25.39 billion, a PE ratio of 23.65, a PEG ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $115.85 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $121.45.

PPG Industries (NYSE:PPG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.65 by ($0.04). PPG Industries had a return on equity of 23.78% and a net margin of 6.41%. Analysts expect that PPG Industries, Inc. will post 7.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PPG Industries Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 21st were given a dividend of $0.68 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 21st. This represents a $2.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.43%. PPG Industries’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 57.51%.

About PPG Industries

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.