Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Purchases 342 Shares of PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG)

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System lifted its position in PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG) by 1.9% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 18,264 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after acquiring an additional 342 shares during the quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in PPG Industries were worth $2,731,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wedmont Private Capital grew its holdings in PPG Industries by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 2,464 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $363,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares during the period. Barrett & Company Inc. increased its position in PPG Industries by 10.6% during the 4th quarter. Barrett & Company Inc. now owns 763 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $114,000 after buying an additional 73 shares in the last quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC raised its stake in PPG Industries by 2.0% during the third quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 4,052 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $526,000 after buying an additional 78 shares during the last quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV boosted its holdings in PPG Industries by 20.9% in the fourth quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 462 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $69,000 after acquiring an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. Finally, WASHINGTON TRUST Co grew its stake in shares of PPG Industries by 5.8% in the fourth quarter. WASHINGTON TRUST Co now owns 1,712 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $256,000 after acquiring an additional 94 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.86% of the company’s stock.

PPG Industries Stock Performance

NYSE PPG traded down $1.24 on Wednesday, hitting $132.97. 119,132 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,758,833. The company has a current ratio of 1.55, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $137.84 and its 200-day moving average price is $139.15. The company has a market capitalization of $31.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.67, a P/E/G ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.30. PPG Industries, Inc. has a 52-week low of $120.32 and a 52-week high of $152.89.

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

PPG Industries Dividend Announcement

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

PPG Industries announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Thursday, April 18th that authorizes the company to repurchase $2.50 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the specialty chemicals company to purchase up to 8.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of PPG Industries from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $150.00 to $163.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Barclays lowered their price objective on PPG Industries from $149.00 to $148.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Redburn Atlantic lowered PPG Industries from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $160.00 target price for the company. in a report on Thursday, February 1st. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded PPG Industries from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Finally, Evercore ISI cut shares of PPG Industries from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and set a $152.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. One 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 MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $155.47.

Insider Activity at PPG Industries

In other news, CFO Vincent J. Morales sold 3,400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.94, for a total value of $479,196.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 28,439 shares in the company, valued at $4,008,192.66. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.56% of the stock is 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.