Bank of Nova Scotia Purchases 40,095 Shares of PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG)

Bank of Nova Scotia increased its position in PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG - Free Report) by 134.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 70,011 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock after acquiring an additional 40,095 shares during the quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia's holdings in PPG Industries were worth $8,363,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. PUREfi Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of PPG Industries during the 4th quarter valued at about $279,000. PFW Advisors LLC purchased a new position in PPG Industries in the 4th quarter worth about $868,000. JGP Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of PPG Industries in the 4th quarter worth $4,050,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of PPG Industries by 2.6% during 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 acquiring an additional 756,937 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Avanza Fonder AB bought a new stake in PPG Industries during the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,944,000. 81.86% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently weighed in on PPG. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of PPG Industries from $130.00 to $115.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Mizuho cut their price objective on shares of PPG Industries from $150.00 to $140.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Argus cut PPG Industries from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, March 10th. StockNews.com lowered shares of PPG Industries from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Bank of America reiterated a "neutral" rating and set a $126.00 price target (down from $143.00) on shares of PPG Industries in a research report on Tuesday. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $132.31.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Timothy M. Knavish sold 4,800 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $118.35, for a total value of $568,080.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

PPG Industries Price Performance

Shares of NYSE PPG traded up $2.31 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $100.73. The company's stock had a trading volume of 643,289 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,797,633. The company has a current ratio of 1.58, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77. The company has a market cap of $22.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 1.16. PPG Industries, Inc. has a one year low of $90.24 and a one year high of $137.24. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $109.95 and a 200 day moving average price of $118.48.

PPG Industries (NYSE:PPG - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.65 by ($0.04). PPG Industries had a net margin of 6.41% and a return on equity of 23.78%. On average, equities research analysts expect that PPG Industries, Inc. will post 7.95 EPS for the current year.

PPG Industries Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 12th will be paid a $0.68 dividend. This represents a $2.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.70%. PPG Industries's dividend payout ratio is currently 57.51%.

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.