Wellington Management Group LLP Sells 1,352,120 Shares of PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG)

Wellington Management Group LLP lessened its holdings in PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG) by 13.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 8,731,261 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 1,352,120 shares during the quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP’s holdings in PPG Industries were worth $1,305,760,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in PPG Industries by 6.7% during the 4th 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. FMR LLC raised its holdings in PPG Industries by 11.0% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 358,333 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $46,512,000 after purchasing an additional 35,571 shares during the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC grew its position in shares of PPG Industries by 49.5% during the 4th 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 position in shares of PPG Industries by 137.5% during the 4th quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 34,937 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $5,224,000 after buying an additional 20,226 shares during the period. Finally, Nomura Holdings Inc. grew its position in shares of PPG Industries by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. now owns 8,479 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $1,101,000 after buying an additional 192 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 81.86% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at PPG Industries

In other PPG Industries news, CEO Timothy M. Knavish bought 2,061 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 8th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $133.24 per share, for a total transaction of $274,607.64. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 35,833 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,774,388.92. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 0.55% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently commented on PPG. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of PPG Industries from $156.00 to $150.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of PPG Industries in a research report on Friday, March 1st. They set a “peer perform” rating for the company. Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of PPG Industries from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. StockNews.com raised shares of PPG Industries from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 30th. Finally, Bank of America reduced their price target on shares of PPG Industries from $167.00 to $164.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, PPG Industries presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $155.47.

PPG Industries Stock Down 1.9 %

PPG traded down $2.47 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $127.32. 1,156,865 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,382,689. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a current ratio of 1.55. The stock has a market capitalization of $29.86 billion, a PE ratio of 21.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $132.58 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $139.54. PPG Industries, Inc. has a 1 year low of $120.32 and a 1 year high of $152.89.

PPG Industries (NYSE:PPG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 19th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.86. The firm had revenue of $4.31 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.43 billion. PPG Industries had a net margin of 7.74% and a return on equity of 22.98%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.82 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that PPG Industries, Inc. will post 8.44 EPS for the current year.

PPG Industries announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback plan on Thursday, April 18th that permits the company to repurchase $2.50 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the specialty chemicals company to repurchase up to 8.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

PPG Industries Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 10th were paid a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.04%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 9th. PPG Industries’s payout ratio is 43.92%.

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.