Ames National Corp Makes New $549,000 Investment in PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG)

Ames National Corp acquired a new position in shares of PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 4,598 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock, valued at approximately $549,000.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Barclays PLC lifted its stake 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 valued at $151,276,000 after purchasing an additional 198,353 shares during the last quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC lifted its stake in PPG Industries by 11.1% in the 4th quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 2,365 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $282,000 after purchasing an additional 236 shares during the last quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in PPG Industries by 83.1% in the 4th quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 5,810 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $694,000 after purchasing an additional 2,637 shares during the last quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in PPG Industries by 6.7% in the 4th quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,554 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $1,022,000 after purchasing an additional 540 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in PPG Industries by 26.3% in the 4th quarter. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,553 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $305,000 after purchasing an additional 531 shares during the last quarter. 81.86% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of PPG Industries from $112.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Argus downgraded shares of PPG Industries from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 10th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of PPG Industries from $110.00 to $111.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on shares of PPG Industries from $153.00 to $135.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Fermium Researc raised shares of PPG Industries to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $128.42.

PPG Industries Trading Down 0.5%

PPG opened at $113.69 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 1.58 and a quick ratio of 1.13. PPG Industries, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $90.24 and a fifty-two week high of $137.24. The firm has a market capitalization of $25.81 billion, a PE ratio of 24.04, a P/E/G ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 1.20. The company’s 50-day moving average is $106.54 and its 200 day moving average is $114.98.

PPG Industries (NYSE:PPG) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.72 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $3.68 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.67 billion. PPG Industries had a net margin of 6.41% and a return on equity of 23.78%. The company’s revenue was down 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.87 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that PPG Industries, Inc. will post 7.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PPG Industries Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Investors of record on Monday, May 12th will be given a $0.68 dividend. This represents a $2.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.39%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 12th. PPG Industries’s payout ratio is presently 58.24%.

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.