Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. Decreases Stock Holdings in PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG)

Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. reduced its holdings in PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG - Free Report) by 12.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 15,660 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock after selling 2,168 shares during the quarter. Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC.'s holdings in PPG Industries were worth $1,871,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. PUREfi Wealth LLC bought a new stake in PPG Industries in the fourth quarter worth approximately $279,000. PFW Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in PPG Industries in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $868,000. Equity Investment Corp grew its stake in PPG Industries by 7.0% in the third quarter. Equity Investment Corp now owns 649,301 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $86,006,000 after acquiring an additional 42,380 shares during the period. JGP Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in PPG Industries in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $4,050,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in PPG Industries by 0.6% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,571,753 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $340,654,000 after acquiring an additional 15,161 shares during the period. 81.86% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

PPG Industries Price Performance

PPG traded down $2.54 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $116.73. 995,346 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,085,025. The company's 50-day moving average is $118.72 and its two-hundred day moving average is $123.33. The company has a market cap of $27.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.68, a P/E/G ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a quick ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 1.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77. PPG Industries, Inc. has a 12-month low of $110.20 and a 12-month high of $145.60.

PPG Industries (NYSE:PPG - Get Free Report) last announced its 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 return on equity of 23.78% and a net margin of 6.41%. Research analysts forecast that PPG Industries, Inc. will post 7.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PPG Industries Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 21st will be paid a $0.68 dividend. This represents a $2.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.33%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 21st. PPG Industries's dividend payout ratio is presently 57.51%.

Insider Activity

In other PPG Industries news, CEO Timothy M. Knavish sold 4,800 shares of PPG Industries stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $118.35, for a total value of $568,080.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 35,833 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,240,835.55. The trade was a 11.81 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.56% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have commented on PPG. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price objective on PPG Industries from $150.00 to $145.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on PPG Industries from $150.00 to $145.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut PPG Industries from an "overweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $145.00 to $115.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. KeyCorp cut PPG Industries from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Mizuho cut their target price on PPG Industries from $150.00 to $140.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, PPG Industries has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $138.15.

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.