Millstone Evans Group LLC Takes $347,000 Position in The Sherwin-Williams Company (NYSE:SHW)

Millstone Evans Group LLC bought a new stake in The Sherwin-Williams Company (NYSE:SHW) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 1,020 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock, valued at approximately $347,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Merit Financial Group LLC lifted its position in Sherwin-Williams by 80.0% during the fourth quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 1,177 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $400,000 after buying an additional 523 shares in the last quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC lifted its position in Sherwin-Williams by 52.6% during the fourth quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 6,680 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $2,271,000 after buying an additional 2,303 shares in the last quarter. Burney Co. lifted its position in Sherwin-Williams by 4.6% during the fourth quarter. Burney Co. now owns 17,272 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $5,871,000 after buying an additional 766 shares in the last quarter. Kerusso Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Sherwin-Williams by 75.9% during the fourth quarter. Kerusso Capital Management LLC now owns 10,290 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $3,498,000 after buying an additional 4,439 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB lifted its position in Sherwin-Williams by 4.2% during the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 117,055 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $44,676,000 after buying an additional 4,681 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.67% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Colin M. Davie sold 2,799 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $360.30, for a total transaction of $1,008,479.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 5,365 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,933,009.50. The trade was a 34.28 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on SHW shares. Robert W. Baird set a $370.00 price objective on Sherwin-Williams in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Zelman & Associates upgraded Sherwin-Williams to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. StockNews.com downgraded Sherwin-Williams from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 28th. Citigroup restated a “buy” rating and issued a $423.00 target price (up previously from $418.00) on shares of Sherwin-Williams in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, Mizuho reduced their target price on Sherwin-Williams from $435.00 to $408.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $401.13.

Sherwin-Williams Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE SHW opened at $334.38 on Friday. The Sherwin-Williams Company has a twelve month low of $282.09 and a twelve month high of $400.42. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.02. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $353.97 and a 200-day simple moving average of $364.59. The stock has a market capitalization of $84.10 billion, a PE ratio of 31.69, a PEG ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 1.23.

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

Sherwin-Williams Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.79 per share. This represents a $3.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.95%. This is a boost from Sherwin-Williams’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. Sherwin-Williams’s payout ratio is presently 29.95%.

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.