FourThought Financial Partners LLC Has $918,000 Holdings in PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG)

FourThought Financial Partners LLC lessened its position in shares of PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG) by 2.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,138 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 182 shares during the period. FourThought Financial Partners LLC’s holdings in PPG Industries were worth $918,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new stake in shares of PPG Industries in the third quarter worth $25,000. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in PPG Industries during the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. boosted its stake in shares of PPG Industries by 588.5% during the 4th quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 179 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 153 shares during the last quarter. CVA Family Office LLC bought a new position in shares of PPG Industries in the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Finally, DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of PPG Industries in the fourth quarter valued at about $29,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.86% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PPG has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. UBS Group decreased their price target on PPG Industries from $156.00 to $150.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 19th. KeyCorp lowered their target price on shares of PPG Industries from $164.00 to $162.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Bank of America cut their price target on shares of PPG Industries from $167.00 to $164.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of PPG Industries from $170.00 to $161.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of PPG Industries from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the company from $150.00 to $163.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, PPG Industries presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $155.47.

PPG Industries Stock Performance

PPG traded up $0.67 during trading on Friday, hitting $132.92. The stock had a trading volume of 1,303,659 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,969,299. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 1.55 and a quick ratio of 1.08. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $138.16 and a 200-day moving average price of $139.02. PPG Industries, Inc. has a one year low of $120.32 and a one year high of $152.89. The firm has a market cap of $31.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.45, a P/E/G ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.30.

PPG Industries (NYSE:PPG) last announced its earnings results on Friday, April 19th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.86. PPG Industries had a net margin of 7.74% and a return on equity of 22.98%. The company had revenue of $4.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.43 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.82 earnings per share. PPG Industries’s quarterly revenue was down 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that PPG Industries, Inc. will post 8.45 EPS for the current year.

PPG Industries Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 10th will be given a $0.65 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 9th. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.96%. PPG Industries’s payout ratio is 43.92%.

PPG Industries announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Thursday, April 18th that permits the company to buyback $2.50 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the specialty chemicals company to reacquire up to 8.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity at PPG Industries

In other news, CFO Vincent J. Morales sold 3,400 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.94, for a total transaction of $479,196.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 28,439 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,008,192.66. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.55% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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.