836 Shares in The Sherwin-Williams Company (NYSE:SHW) Bought by Kovack Advisors Inc.

Kovack Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in The Sherwin-Williams Company (NYSE:SHW) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 836 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock, valued at approximately $284,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in SHW. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of Sherwin-Williams by 18.2% in 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 in the last quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC grew its stake in shares of Sherwin-Williams by 1,717.9% during the third quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 326,903 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $124,769,000 after buying an additional 308,921 shares during the last quarter. Canoe Financial LP grew its stake in shares of Sherwin-Williams by 542.0% during the fourth quarter. Canoe Financial LP now owns 339,707 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $115,477,000 after buying an additional 286,791 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Sherwin-Williams by 47.5% during the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 864,558 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $293,889,000 after buying an additional 278,242 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd grew its stake in shares of Sherwin-Williams by 682.7% during the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 244,285 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $83,040,000 after buying an additional 213,076 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.67% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. StockNews.com cut Sherwin-Williams from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 28th. Robert W. Baird set a $370.00 target price on Sherwin-Williams in a research note on Friday, January 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Sherwin-Williams from $370.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Zelman & Associates raised Sherwin-Williams to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Citigroup reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $423.00 target price (up from $418.00) on shares of Sherwin-Williams in a research note on Wednesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $403.31.

Sherwin-Williams Price Performance

SHW stock opened at $362.46 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $351.26 and a 200-day moving average price of $365.76. The Sherwin-Williams Company has a 52-week low of $282.09 and a 52-week high of $400.42. The firm has a market capitalization of $91.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.36, a PEG ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.02, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a current ratio of 0.79.

Sherwin-Williams (NYSE:SHW) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The specialty chemicals company reported $2.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.07 by $0.02. Sherwin-Williams had a net margin of 11.61% and a return on equity of 74.50%. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.81 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that The Sherwin-Williams Company will post 12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sherwin-Williams Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.79 per share. This represents a $3.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.87%. This is a positive change from Sherwin-Williams’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 3rd. Sherwin-Williams’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 29.95%.

Sherwin-Williams 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.