Allstate Corp Buys Shares of 7,280 PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG)

Allstate Corp bought a new position in PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 7,280 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock, valued at approximately $870,000.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. PUREfi Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of PPG Industries during the fourth quarter worth $279,000. PFW Advisors LLC bought a new stake in PPG Industries during the 4th quarter worth $868,000. JGP Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in PPG Industries in the 4th quarter worth about $4,050,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in PPG Industries by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 29,369,691 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $3,508,210,000 after purchasing an additional 756,937 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Avanza Fonder AB acquired a new stake in shares of PPG Industries during the fourth quarter valued at about $2,944,000. 81.86% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Timothy M. Knavish sold 4,800 shares of PPG Industries 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 35,833 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,240,835.55. This trade represents a 11.81 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PPG has been the subject of a number of research reports. StockNews.com lowered shares of PPG Industries from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of PPG Industries from $150.00 to $135.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 3rd. KeyCorp downgraded PPG Industries from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded PPG Industries from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $145.00 to $115.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Mizuho decreased their price target on PPG Industries from $150.00 to $140.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $138.15.

PPG Industries Stock Performance

NYSE:PPG opened at $109.45 on Tuesday. 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 twelve month low of $105.64 and a twelve month high of $145.61. The company has a fifty day moving average of $115.16 and a 200-day moving average of $121.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.14, a P/E/G ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 1.22.

PPG Industries (NYSE:PPG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.61 earnings per share 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%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that PPG Industries, Inc. will post 7.95 EPS for the current year.

PPG Industries Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 21st were paid 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 (DPR) is presently 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.