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

Shares of The Sherwin-Williams Company (NYSE:SHW) have been assigned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty brokerages that are covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $396.47.

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of Sherwin-Williams from $400.00 to $425.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. KeyCorp reissued a “sector weight” rating on shares of Sherwin-Williams in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Sherwin-Williams from $375.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Evercore ISI increased their target price on Sherwin-Williams from $400.00 to $420.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Sherwin-Williams from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th.

Insider Transactions at Sherwin-Williams

In other Sherwin-Williams news, SVP Gregory P. Sofish sold 2,565 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $378.63, for a total transaction of $971,185.95. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 6,329 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,396,349.27. The trade was a 28.84 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Allen J. Mistysyn sold 14,520 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $366.83, for a total value of $5,326,371.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 63,520 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,301,041.60. The trade was a 18.61 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. FMR LLC increased its position 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. PineStone Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Sherwin-Williams by 132.8% during 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. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its stake in Sherwin-Williams by 610.0% in the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,045,374 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $311,971,000 after acquiring an additional 898,143 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Sherwin-Williams by 40,317.4% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 726,705 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $277,361,000 after purchasing an additional 724,907 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jensen Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in Sherwin-Williams during the second quarter worth $169,770,000. 77.67% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Sherwin-Williams Price Performance

Shares of SHW stock opened at $388.30 on Wednesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $377.13 and its 200-day moving average is $344.54. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $97.79 billion, a PE ratio of 38.68, a PEG ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 1.17. Sherwin-Williams has a 52 week low of $272.34 and a 52 week high of $392.57.

Sherwin-Williams (NYSE:SHW) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The specialty chemicals company reported $3.37 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.56 by ($0.19). The company had revenue of $6.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 in the prior year, the business earned $3.20 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Sherwin-Williams will post 11.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sherwin-Williams Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be paid a $0.715 dividend. This represents a $2.86 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.74%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 15th. Sherwin-Williams’s payout ratio is 28.49%.

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.