StockNews.com Lowers Sherwin-Williams (NYSE:SHW) to Hold

StockNews.com lowered shares of Sherwin-Williams (NYSE:SHW) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report sent to investors on Thursday morning.

Other equities analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on shares of Sherwin-Williams from $300.00 to $310.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research note on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Sherwin-Williams from $310.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Northcoast Research raised shares of Sherwin-Williams from a neutral rating to a buy rating and set a $360.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 27th. Seaport Res Ptn cut shares of Sherwin-Williams from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a research report on Monday, January 8th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets restated an outperform rating and issued a $377.00 price target (down from $385.00) on shares of Sherwin-Williams in a research report on Wednesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $341.39.

Sherwin-Williams Price Performance

SHW stock opened at $306.45 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $77.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.67, a P/E/G ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.32, a current ratio of 0.78 and a quick ratio of 0.48. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $328.05 and a 200 day simple moving average of $299.51. Sherwin-Williams has a 1 year low of $221.76 and a 1 year high of $348.37.

Sherwin-Williams (NYSE:SHW) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The specialty chemicals company reported $2.17 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.22 by ($0.05). The company had revenue of $5.37 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.50 billion. Sherwin-Williams had a net margin of 10.52% and a return on equity of 73.74%. Sherwin-Williams’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.04 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Sherwin-Williams will post 11.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sherwin-Williams Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be given a dividend of $0.715 per share. This represents a $2.86 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.93%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 16th. Sherwin-Williams’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 30.49%.

Insider Transactions at Sherwin-Williams

In other Sherwin-Williams news, SVP Mary L. Garceau sold 23,518 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $322.66, for a total value of $7,588,317.88. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 28,475 shares in the company, valued at $9,187,743.50. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Sherwin-Williams news, SVP Mary L. Garceau sold 23,518 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $322.66, for a total value of $7,588,317.88. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 28,475 shares in the company, valued at $9,187,743.50. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Justin T. Binns sold 1,563 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $338.87, for a total transaction of $529,653.81. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 14,564 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,935,302.68. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 32,050 shares of company stock worth $10,340,237 over the last three months. 0.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Sherwin-Williams

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of SHW. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Sherwin-Williams in the fourth quarter worth $1,176,356,000. FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of Sherwin-Williams by 65.4% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,427,014 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $1,384,160,000 after buying an additional 2,146,102 shares in the last quarter. Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd bought a new position in shares of Sherwin-Williams in the fourth quarter valued at $432,737,000. Capital World Investors lifted its stake in shares of Sherwin-Williams by 38.9% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 3,840,789 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $1,197,952,000 after buying an additional 1,075,351 shares in the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Sherwin-Williams by 2,853.9% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 650,186 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $202,793,000 after buying an additional 628,175 shares in the last quarter. 77.67% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Sherwin-Williams Company Profile

The Sherwin-Williams Company engages in the development, manufacture, distribution, and sale of paints, coating, and related products to professional, industrial, commercial, and retail customers. It operates through three segments: Paint Stores Group, Consumer Brands Group, and Performance Coatings Group.