UBS Group AG Sells 25,356 Shares of The Sherwin-Williams Company (NYSE:SHW)

UBS Group AG decreased its position in The Sherwin-Williams Company (NYSE:SHW) by 2.3% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 1,059,377 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 25,356 shares during the quarter. UBS Group AG owned approximately 0.41% of Sherwin-Williams worth $238,116,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in shares of Sherwin-Williams by 17.4% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 9,960,923 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $2,364,025,000 after buying an additional 1,475,366 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley raised its stake in shares of Sherwin-Williams by 50.9% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 5,180,068 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $1,229,386,000 after buying an additional 1,747,586 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Sherwin-Williams by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,105,942 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $972,348,000 after buying an additional 103,676 shares during the period. Parnassus Investments LLC raised its stake in shares of Sherwin-Williams by 45.0% in the first quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 2,985,086 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $670,958,000 after buying an additional 926,751 shares during the period. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. raised its stake in shares of Sherwin-Williams by 36.5% in the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 2,753,330 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $653,448,000 after buying an additional 735,528 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 75.87% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SHW has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. 58.com reissued an “upgrade” rating on shares of Sherwin-Williams in a research note on Monday, June 26th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Sherwin-Williams from $300.00 to $290.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 25th. Citigroup lifted their target price on Sherwin-Williams from $310.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 27th. Jefferies Financial Group raised Sherwin-Williams from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $240.00 to $275.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 24th. Finally, Loop Capital raised their price target on Sherwin-Williams from $295.00 to $325.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 26th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $280.00.

Sherwin-Williams Trading Up 1.1 %

SHW traded up $3.10 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $274.82. 1,575,793 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,482,987. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $268.71 and a 200 day moving average price of $242.57. The Sherwin-Williams Company has a 52-week low of $195.24 and a 52-week high of $283.80. The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $70.67 billion, a PE ratio of 30.50, a PEG ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 1.10.

Sherwin-Williams (NYSE:SHW) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 25th. The specialty chemicals company reported $3.29 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.71 by $0.58. The business had revenue of $6.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.03 billion. Sherwin-Williams had a return on equity of 83.63% and a net margin of 10.20%. Sherwin-Williams’s revenue was up 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.41 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that The Sherwin-Williams Company will post 9.78 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sherwin-Williams Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 8th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 18th will be given a dividend of $0.605 per share. This represents a $2.42 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.88%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 17th. Sherwin-Williams’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.86%.

Sherwin-Williams Company Profile

The Sherwin-Williams Company engages in the manufacture, distribution, and sale of paints, coating, and related products to professional, industrial, commercial, and retail customers. It operates through three segments: The Americas Group, Consumer Brands Group, and Performance Coatings Group. The Americas Group segment offers architectural paints and coatings, and protective and marine products, as well as OEM product finishes and related products for architectural and industrial paint contractors, and do-it-yourself homeowners.