Franklin Resources Inc. Raises Position in PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG)

Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in shares of PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG) by 5.7% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,136,570 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after buying an additional 170,339 shares during the quarter. Franklin Resources Inc.’s holdings in PPG Industries were worth $403,049,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Tidal Investments LLC boosted its stake in PPG Industries by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 13,306 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $1,763,000 after purchasing an additional 162 shares during the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB boosted its position in shares of PPG Industries by 69.8% during the third quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 54,004 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $7,153,000 after buying an additional 22,198 shares during the last quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank increased its holdings in PPG Industries by 5.3% in the 3rd quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 134,028 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $17,753,000 after buying an additional 6,756 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC raised its position in PPG Industries by 21.0% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,142,045 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $151,276,000 after buying an additional 198,353 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Groupama Asset Managment lifted its stake in PPG Industries by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 7,750 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $1,027,000 after acquiring an additional 93 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 81.86% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at PPG Industries

In other news, VP Anne M. Foulkes sold 1,985 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $125.80, for a total transaction of $249,713.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 13,454 shares in the company, valued at $1,692,513.20. This trade represents a 12.86 % 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. 0.55% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently commented on PPG shares. StockNews.com upgraded shares of PPG Industries from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of PPG Industries from $155.00 to $145.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Mizuho lowered their price target on PPG Industries from $160.00 to $150.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 17th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $155.00 price objective (down previously from $160.00) on shares of PPG Industries in a report on Monday, October 21st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on PPG Industries from $138.00 to $136.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, PPG Industries presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $149.93.

PPG Industries Price Performance

Shares of PPG Industries stock opened at $124.20 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $28.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.68, a PEG ratio of 1.88 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a quick ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 1.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $125.65 and its 200-day simple moving average is $126.55. PPG Industries, Inc. has a 52 week low of $118.07 and a 52 week high of $151.16.

PPG Industries (NYSE:PPG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The specialty chemicals company reported $2.13 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.15 by ($0.02). PPG Industries had a return on equity of 23.63% and a net margin of 8.24%. The business had revenue of $4.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.66 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.07 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that PPG Industries, Inc. will post 8.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PPG Industries Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 12th. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 12th were paid a dividend of $0.68 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, November 12th. This represents a $2.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.19%. PPG Industries’s payout ratio is 43.11%.

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.