The Sherwin-Williams Company (NYSE:SHW) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

The Sherwin-Williams Company (NYSE:SHW) has received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty ratings firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $341.39.

Several research analysts have issued reports on the company. Evercore ISI cut their price objective on Sherwin-Williams from $385.00 to $380.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Loop Capital cut their price objective on Sherwin-Williams from $395.00 to $380.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Northcoast Research upgraded Sherwin-Williams from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $360.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 27th. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on Sherwin-Williams from $300.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, KeyCorp raised Sherwin-Williams from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $400.00 target price on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 25th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Gregory P. Sofish sold 1,830 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $320.70, for a total transaction of $586,881.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 6,329 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,029,710.30. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In related news, SVP Gregory P. Sofish sold 1,830 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $320.70, for a total transaction of $586,881.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 6,329 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,029,710.30. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Mary L. Garceau sold 23,518 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the senior vice president now owns 28,475 shares in the company, valued at $9,187,743.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 32,050 shares of company stock valued at $10,340,237. Company insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Sherwin-Williams

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Sherwin-Williams by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,435,960 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $6,685,876,000 after purchasing an additional 179,274 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its holdings in Sherwin-Williams by 65.4% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,427,014 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $1,384,160,000 after purchasing an additional 2,146,102 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley increased its holdings in Sherwin-Williams by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 5,063,957 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $1,291,563,000 after purchasing an additional 75,571 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors increased its holdings in Sherwin-Williams by 38.9% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 3,840,789 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $1,197,952,000 after purchasing an additional 1,075,351 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Sherwin-Williams during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,176,356,000. 77.67% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Sherwin-Williams Price Performance

Sherwin-Williams stock opened at $319.02 on Friday. Sherwin-Williams has a 12 month low of $221.76 and a 12 month high of $348.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.32, a current ratio of 0.78 and a quick ratio of 0.46. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $326.67 and a 200-day simple moving average of $302.91. The stock has a market capitalization of $80.89 billion, a PE ratio of 34.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 1.18.

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

Sherwin-Williams Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be paid a $0.715 dividend. This represents a $2.86 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.90%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 16th. Sherwin-Williams’s dividend payout ratio is presently 30.49%.

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.