PPG Industries (NYSE:PPG) Upgraded by Seaport Res Ptn to Buy

PPG Industries (NYSE:PPG) was upgraded by equities research analysts at Seaport Res Ptn from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued on Monday, Zacks.com reports. Seaport Res Ptn also issued estimates for PPG Industries’ Q2 2024 earnings at $2.49 EPS, FY2024 earnings at $8.43 EPS, Q2 2025 earnings at $2.78 EPS and Q3 2025 earnings at $2.56 EPS.

A number of other equities analysts have also commented on PPG. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on PPG Industries from $156.00 to $141.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Monday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price target on PPG Industries from $160.00 to $155.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday. Evercore ISI lowered PPG Industries from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and set a $152.00 price target for the company. in a report on Monday. Robert W. Baird reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $150.00 price target on shares of PPG Industries in a report on Friday, January 19th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their price objective on PPG Industries from $156.00 to $150.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $155.50.

PPG Industries Price Performance

Shares of NYSE PPG opened at $131.13 on Monday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $140.16 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $138.99. PPG Industries has a 1-year low of $120.32 and a 1-year high of $152.89. The firm has a market cap of $30.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72.

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 the consensus estimate of $1.86. PPG Industries had a return on equity of 23.13% and a net margin of 7.74%. The business had revenue of $4.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.43 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.82 earnings per share. PPG Industries’s revenue was down 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that PPG Industries will post 8.46 earnings per share for the current year.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at PPG Industries

In other news, CFO Vincent J. Morales sold 3,400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.94, for a total transaction 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 legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 0.56% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of PPG Industries by 17.2% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,480,664 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $3,661,083,000 after buying an additional 3,600,558 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of PPG Industries during the fourth quarter valued at about $554,685,000. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in shares of PPG Industries by 41.1% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,294,142 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $427,580,000 after buying an additional 959,849 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley grew its stake in shares of PPG Industries by 12.4% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 3,102,602 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $402,718,000 after buying an additional 341,977 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Putnam Investments LLC grew its stake in shares of PPG Industries by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Putnam Investments LLC now owns 2,659,974 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $397,799,000 after purchasing an additional 81,200 shares during the last quarter. 81.86% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.