Evercore ISI Lowers PPG Industries (NYSE:PPG) to In-Line

PPG Industries (NYSE:PPG) was downgraded by analysts at Evercore ISI from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating in a research note issued to investors on Monday, Marketbeat reports. They presently have a $152.00 target price on the specialty chemicals company’s stock. Evercore ISI’s target price points to a potential upside of 16.12% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently commented on PPG. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of PPG Industries from $156.00 to $150.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of PPG Industries from $170.00 to $161.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of PPG Industries in a report on Friday, March 1st. They set a “peer perform” rating for the company. KeyCorp decreased their price objective on shares of PPG Industries from $167.00 to $164.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, Vertical Research upgraded shares of PPG Industries from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $156.50.

PPG Industries Price Performance

PPG stock opened at $130.90 on Monday. PPG Industries has a 12 month low of $120.32 and a 12 month high of $152.89. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $140.36 and a 200 day moving average price of $138.99. The stock has a market cap of $30.81 billion, a PE ratio of 22.11, a P/E/G ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.28.

PPG Industries (NYSE:PPG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 19th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.86 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.86. PPG Industries had a net margin of 7.74% and a return on equity of 23.13%. The firm had revenue of $4.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.43 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.82 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that PPG Industries will post 8.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Vincent J. Morales sold 3,400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $140.94, for a total transaction of $479,196.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 28,439 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,008,192.66. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.56% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of PPG Industries by 17.2% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,480,664 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $3,661,083,000 after acquiring an additional 3,600,558 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in PPG Industries by 2.2% during the 1st quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,854,892 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $647,037,000 after purchasing an additional 106,294 shares during the last quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in PPG Industries by 163,082.5% during the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 4,157,889 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $522,813,000 after purchasing an additional 4,155,341 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in PPG Industries during the 4th quarter worth approximately $554,685,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its position in PPG Industries by 41.1% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,294,142 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $427,580,000 after purchasing an additional 959,849 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 81.86% of the company’s stock.

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.