Moody National Bank Trust Division Decreases Stake in PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG)

Moody National Bank Trust Division cut its stake in PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG) by 1.9% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,358 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 103 shares during the quarter. Moody National Bank Trust Division’s holdings in PPG Industries were worth $675,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of PPG. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in PPG Industries by 6.7% during the fourth quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. now owns 11,004 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $1,646,000 after purchasing an additional 690 shares during the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC lifted its position in PPG Industries by 49.5% during the fourth quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 28,345 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $4,239,000 after buying an additional 9,384 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of PPG Industries by 137.5% in the fourth quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 34,937 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $5,224,000 after buying an additional 20,226 shares in the last quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System grew its stake in shares of PPG Industries by 8.8% in the first quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 274,143 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $36,620,000 after buying an additional 22,079 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in PPG Industries by 17.2% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 28,703,066 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $4,159,074,000 after purchasing an additional 4,222,402 shares during the last quarter. 81.86% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have commented on PPG. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on PPG Industries from $165.00 to $161.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Barclays dropped their target price on PPG Industries from $148.00 to $144.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price objective on PPG Industries from $160.00 to $155.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded PPG Industries from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Finally, Citigroup decreased their target price on PPG Industries from $145.00 to $144.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $151.08.

PPG Industries Price Performance

PPG stock traded down $4.07 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $119.39. The company had a trading volume of 1,612,168 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,660,136. PPG Industries, Inc. has a 1 year low of $118.96 and a 1 year high of $151.16. The company has a market capitalization of $28.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.85, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.26. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $128.12 and a 200-day moving average price of $134.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 1.49 and a quick ratio of 1.05.

PPG Industries (NYSE:PPG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 18th. The specialty chemicals company reported $2.50 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.48 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $4.79 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.93 billion. PPG Industries had a net margin of 7.98% and a return on equity of 23.57%. PPG Industries’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.25 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that PPG Industries, Inc. will post 8.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PPG Industries Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 12th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 12th will be given a $0.68 dividend. This is a positive change from PPG Industries’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.65. This represents a $2.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.28%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 12th. PPG Industries’s dividend payout ratio is presently 45.95%.

PPG Industries announced that its board has approved a stock buyback plan on Thursday, April 18th that permits the company to buyback $2.50 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the specialty chemicals company to purchase up to 8.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Transactions at PPG Industries

In other news, CEO Timothy M. Knavish acquired 2,061 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 8th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $133.24 per share, for a total transaction of $274,607.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 35,833 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,774,388.92. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.55% of the company’s stock.

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.