Heartland Advisors Inc. Reduces Stock Position in PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG)

Heartland Advisors Inc. lessened its position in PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG - Free Report) by 3.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 118,518 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock after selling 3,863 shares during the quarter. Heartland Advisors Inc. owned approximately 0.05% of PPG Industries worth $14,157,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. PUREfi Wealth LLC bought a new stake in PPG Industries during the fourth quarter worth about $279,000. PFW Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of PPG Industries during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $868,000. JGP Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of PPG Industries in the 4th quarter worth approximately $4,050,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of PPG Industries by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 29,369,691 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $3,508,210,000 after buying an additional 756,937 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Avanza Fonder AB bought a new position in PPG Industries during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $2,944,000. Institutional investors own 81.86% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Argus cut PPG Industries from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on shares of PPG Industries from $128.00 to $120.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Mizuho dropped their target price on shares of PPG Industries from $150.00 to $140.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. KeyCorp downgraded shares of PPG Industries from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on PPG Industries from $153.00 to $135.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, PPG Industries presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $138.15.

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Insider Buying and Selling at PPG Industries

In other news, CEO Timothy M. Knavish sold 4,800 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $118.35, for a total transaction of $568,080.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now 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 document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.33% of the company's stock.

PPG Industries Stock Performance

Shares of PPG Industries stock traded up $2.01 on Monday, hitting $109.45. 2,899,199 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,184,195. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a current ratio of 1.58. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $115.37 and a 200-day simple moving average of $121.17. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.84 billion, a PE ratio of 23.14, a PEG ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 1.22. PPG Industries, Inc. has a 1 year low of $105.64 and a 1 year high of $145.60.

PPG Industries (NYSE:PPG - Get Free Report) last announced 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%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that PPG Industries, Inc. will post 7.95 EPS for the current year.

PPG Industries Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Investors of record on Friday, February 21st were issued a $0.68 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 21st. This represents a $2.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.49%. PPG Industries's dividend payout ratio is presently 57.51%.

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.