Ascent Group LLC Purchases 268 Shares of The Sherwin-Williams Company (NYSE:SHW)

Ascent Group LLC grew its position in shares of The Sherwin-Williams Company (NYSE:SHW) by 18.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,718 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after acquiring an additional 268 shares during the quarter. Ascent Group LLC’s holdings in Sherwin-Williams were worth $656,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of SHW. FMR LLC raised its holdings in Sherwin-Williams by 18.2% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,482,662 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $2,474,238,000 after buying an additional 999,164 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc increased its position in shares of Sherwin-Williams by 2.9% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 1,921,846 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $573,538,000 after acquiring an additional 53,487 shares in the last quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Sherwin-Williams by 132.8% in the 2nd quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,609,392 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $480,291,000 after acquiring an additional 917,979 shares during the last quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. lifted its position in Sherwin-Williams by 18.5% in the 2nd quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. now owns 1,524,367 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $454,917,000 after acquiring an additional 238,031 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Sherwin-Williams by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,421,090 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $542,387,000 after purchasing an additional 15,843 shares during the last quarter. 77.67% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SHW has been the subject of several recent research reports. UBS Group reiterated an “underperform” rating on shares of Sherwin-Williams in a report on Friday, October 18th. KeyCorp reiterated a “sector weight” rating on shares of Sherwin-Williams in a research note on Monday, October 7th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Sherwin-Williams from $400.00 to $425.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on shares of Sherwin-Williams from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Sherwin-Williams from $375.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $396.47.

Sherwin-Williams Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of SHW opened at $395.37 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $99.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.19 and a beta of 1.19. The Sherwin-Williams Company has a fifty-two week low of $278.45 and a fifty-two week high of $400.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.97, a quick ratio of 0.51 and a current ratio of 0.83. The business has a 50-day moving average of $379.49 and a 200 day moving average of $348.47.

Sherwin-Williams (NYSE:SHW) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The specialty chemicals company reported $3.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.56 by ($0.19). The business had revenue of $6.16 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.20 billion. Sherwin-Williams had a net margin of 11.09% and a return on equity of 74.45%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.20 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that The Sherwin-Williams Company will post 11.32 EPS for the current year.

Sherwin-Williams Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.715 per share. This represents a $2.86 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.72%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 15th. Sherwin-Williams’s payout ratio is presently 28.49%.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Mary L. Garceau sold 15,770 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $397.92, for a total transaction of $6,275,198.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 29,205 shares in the company, valued at $11,621,253.60. The trade was a 35.06 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Gregory P. Sofish sold 2,565 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $378.63, for a total value of $971,185.95. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 6,329 shares in the company, valued at $2,396,349.27. This trade represents a 28.84 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

About Sherwin-Williams

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.