Federated Hermes Inc. Acquires 27,949 Shares of PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG)

Federated Hermes Inc. grew its position in PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG) by 84.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 60,987 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after buying an additional 27,949 shares during the quarter. Federated Hermes Inc.’s holdings in PPG Industries were worth $9,121,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in PPG. Arkadios Wealth Advisors lifted its holdings in shares of PPG Industries by 25.0% in the 3rd quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors now owns 1,863 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $242,000 after buying an additional 373 shares during the period. Summit Global Investments lifted its holdings in shares of PPG Industries by 30.7% in the 3rd quarter. Summit Global Investments now owns 2,189 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $284,000 after buying an additional 514 shares during the period. Ziegler Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of PPG Industries by 4.5% in the 3rd quarter. Ziegler Capital Management LLC now owns 2,735 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $355,000 after buying an additional 117 shares during the period. DAVENPORT & Co LLC lifted its holdings in shares of PPG Industries by 5.0% in the 3rd quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC now owns 5,316 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $690,000 after buying an additional 253 shares during the period. Finally, Meridian Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of PPG Industries by 47.5% in the 3rd quarter. Meridian Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,650 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $604,000 after buying an additional 1,497 shares during the period. 81.86% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on PPG. Evercore ISI cut PPG Industries from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and set a $152.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Monday. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on PPG Industries from $168.00 to $165.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded PPG Industries from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday. StockNews.com cut PPG Industries from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, Robert W. Baird restated an “outperform” rating and set a $150.00 price objective on shares of PPG Industries in a research note on Friday, January 19th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, PPG Industries currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $155.47.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Vincent J. Morales sold 3,400 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.94, for a total value of $479,196.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 28,439 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,008,192.66. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.55% of the company’s stock.

PPG Industries Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of PPG stock opened at $130.52 on Thursday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $139.81 and its 200-day simple moving average is $138.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.55. The firm has a market capitalization of $30.61 billion, a PE ratio of 22.05, a P/E/G ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.28. PPG Industries, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $120.32 and a fifty-two week high of $152.89.

PPG Industries (NYSE:PPG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 19th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.86 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.86. The business had revenue of $4.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.43 billion. PPG Industries had a return on equity of 22.98% and a net margin of 7.74%. The company’s revenue was down 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.82 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that PPG Industries, Inc. will post 8.45 earnings per share for the current year.

PPG Industries Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 10th will be issued a $0.65 dividend. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.99%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 9th. PPG Industries’s dividend payout ratio is presently 43.92%.

PPG Industries announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase program on Thursday, April 18th that authorizes the company to buyback $2.50 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the specialty chemicals company to purchase up to 8.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

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.