The Sherwin-Williams Company (NYSE:SHW) Given Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Shares of The Sherwin-Williams Company (NYSE:SHW) have earned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty ratings firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, six have assigned a hold recommendation and thirteen have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $341.39.

SHW has been the subject of a number of research reports. UBS Group upgraded shares of Sherwin-Williams from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $312.00 to $402.00 in a report on Thursday, March 7th. Evercore ISI decreased their price objective on shares of Sherwin-Williams from $385.00 to $380.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. KeyCorp upgraded shares of Sherwin-Williams from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $400.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $377.00 price objective (down from $385.00) on shares of Sherwin-Williams in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on shares of Sherwin-Williams from $380.00 to $370.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 25th.

Insider Activity at Sherwin-Williams

In related news, SVP Mary L. Garceau sold 23,518 shares of Sherwin-Williams 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 owns 28,475 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,187,743.50. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, SVP Mary L. Garceau sold 23,518 shares of Sherwin-Williams 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 owns 28,475 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,187,743.50. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Gregory P. Sofish sold 1,830 shares of Sherwin-Williams stock in a transaction 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 approximately $2,029,710.30. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 32,050 shares of company stock valued at $10,340,237. Insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Sherwin-Williams

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS increased its position in Sherwin-Williams by 16.2% in the 3rd quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 47,568 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $12,132,000 after buying an additional 6,639 shares during the period. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc bought a new position in Sherwin-Williams during the fourth quarter worth $38,444,000. Machina Capital S.A.S. raised its stake in Sherwin-Williams by 149.0% during the 3rd quarter. Machina Capital S.A.S. now owns 9,695 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $2,473,000 after purchasing an additional 5,801 shares during the last quarter. AIA Group Ltd boosted its holdings in Sherwin-Williams by 20.8% in the 4th quarter. AIA Group Ltd now owns 16,312 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $5,088,000 after purchasing an additional 2,810 shares during the period. Finally, Pearl River Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Sherwin-Williams in the 3rd quarter worth $4,517,000. 77.67% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Sherwin-Williams Trading Up 2.2 %

Shares of NYSE:SHW opened at $311.30 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $78.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.19, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.18. Sherwin-Williams has a 1-year low of $221.76 and a 1-year high of $348.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.32, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a current ratio of 0.78. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $327.22 and a 200 day moving average price of $300.64.

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

Sherwin-Williams Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 7th. Investors of record on Friday, May 17th will be paid a $0.715 dividend. This represents a $2.86 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.92%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 16th. Sherwin-Williams’s payout ratio is presently 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.