J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. Acquires Shares of 754 The Sherwin-Williams Company (NYSE:SHW)

J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in The Sherwin-Williams Company (NYSE:SHW) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 754 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock, valued at approximately $235,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new position in shares of Sherwin-Williams in the third quarter valued at about $25,000. Union Savings Bank purchased a new position in shares of Sherwin-Williams in the third quarter valued at about $28,000. McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Sherwin-Williams in the fourth quarter valued at about $35,000. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Sherwin-Williams during the 4th quarter valued at about $36,000. Finally, Lee Financial Co bought a new stake in shares of Sherwin-Williams during the 3rd quarter valued at about $32,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.67% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Gregory P. Sofish sold 1,830 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $320.70, for a total transaction of $586,881.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 6,329 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,029,710.30. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Sherwin-Williams news, SVP Gregory P. Sofish sold 1,830 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $320.70, for a total transaction of $586,881.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 6,329 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,029,710.30. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Justin T. Binns sold 1,563 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $338.87, for a total transaction of $529,653.81. Following the sale, the insider now directly 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 32,050 shares of company stock valued at $10,340,237 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on SHW. Northcoast Research raised shares of Sherwin-Williams from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $360.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 27th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price 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. Loop Capital cut their target price on shares of Sherwin-Williams from $395.00 to $380.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Sherwin-Williams from $285.00 to $315.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 29th. Finally, Citigroup cut their target price on shares of Sherwin-Williams from $390.00 to $370.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $337.37.

Sherwin-Williams Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE SHW opened at $304.80 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.32, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a current ratio of 0.78. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $328.10 and its 200-day moving average price is $298.81. The Sherwin-Williams Company has a 52-week low of $221.76 and a 52-week high of $348.37. The company has a market cap of $77.56 billion, a PE ratio of 32.49, a P/E/G ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.15.

Sherwin-Williams (NYSE:SHW) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The specialty chemicals company reported $2.17 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.22 by ($0.05). Sherwin-Williams had a net margin of 10.52% and a return on equity of 73.74%. The company had revenue of $5.37 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.50 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.04 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that The Sherwin-Williams Company will post 11.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sherwin-Williams Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.715 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $2.86 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.94%. Sherwin-Williams’s payout ratio is 30.49%.

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.