Kesler Norman & Wride LLC Sells 4,248 Shares of PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG)

Kesler Norman & Wride LLC reduced its stake in shares of PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG) by 54.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 3,566 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 4,248 shares during the period. Kesler Norman & Wride LLC’s holdings in PPG Industries were worth $426,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Mutual Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in PPG Industries by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC now owns 2,666 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $319,000 after purchasing an additional 92 shares during the last quarter. Groupama Asset Managment lifted its stake in shares of PPG Industries by 1.2% in the third quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 7,750 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $1,027,000 after buying an additional 93 shares during the last quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB boosted its holdings in shares of PPG Industries by 28.3% during the 4th quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 431 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $51,000 after buying an additional 95 shares during the period. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in PPG Industries by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,288 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $990,000 after buying an additional 103 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sachetta LLC raised its holdings in PPG Industries by 18.4% in the 4th quarter. Sachetta LLC now owns 675 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $81,000 after acquiring an additional 105 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.86% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Timothy M. Knavish sold 4,800 shares of PPG Industries stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $118.35, for a total transaction of $568,080.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 35,833 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,240,835.55. This trade represents a 11.81 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.33% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

PPG Industries Price Performance

Shares of PPG Industries stock opened at $110.03 on Thursday. PPG Industries, Inc. has a twelve month low of $105.64 and a twelve month high of $143.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a current ratio of 1.58. The firm has a market cap of $24.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 1.22. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $114.61 and its 200-day simple moving average is $120.85.

PPG Industries (NYSE:PPG) last released 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, research analysts expect that PPG Industries, Inc. will post 7.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

PPG Industries Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 21st were issued a dividend of $0.68 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 21st. This represents a $2.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.47%. PPG Industries’s payout ratio is presently 57.51%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PPG has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price target on shares of PPG Industries from $150.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Argus lowered PPG Industries from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. StockNews.com lowered PPG Industries from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of PPG Industries from $150.00 to $135.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Mizuho cut their target price on shares of 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 issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, PPG Industries currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $138.15.

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.