Generali Asset Management SPA SGR Makes New Investment in PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG)

Generali Asset Management SPA SGR bought a new position in shares of PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 42,377 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,062,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of PPG Industries by 4.4% in 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 acquiring an additional 491,774 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in shares of PPG Industries by 5.7% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 8,977,010 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $1,189,095,000 after acquiring an additional 485,597 shares in the last quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $381,876,000 after acquiring an additional 1,858,895 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in shares of PPG Industries by 5.7% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 3,136,570 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $403,049,000 after acquiring an additional 170,339 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of PPG Industries by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,648,379 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $316,349,000 after acquiring an additional 76,626 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 81.86% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on PPG. Citigroup decreased their price objective on PPG Industries from $150.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Barclays reiterated an “equal weight” rating on shares of PPG Industries in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Mizuho reduced their price target on PPG Industries from $150.00 to $140.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on PPG Industries from $150.00 to $135.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price target on PPG Industries from $128.00 to $126.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 31st. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $138.15.

PPG Industries Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of PPG stock opened at $113.51 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $116.28 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $122.04. The company has a quick ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 1.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77. The company has a market capitalization of $25.76 billion, a PE ratio of 24.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 1.22. PPG Industries, Inc. has a 12-month low of $109.15 and a 12-month high of $145.61.

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

PPG Industries Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 21st were given a $0.68 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 21st. This represents a $2.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.40%. PPG Industries’s payout ratio is 57.51%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Timothy M. Knavish sold 4,800 shares of PPG Industries stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $118.35, for a total value of $568,080.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 35,833 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,240,835.55. The trade was a 11.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 0.33% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.