Sherwin-Williams (NYSE:SHW) Downgraded to Hold at StockNews.com

StockNews.com downgraded shares of Sherwin-Williams (NYSE:SHW) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note published on Saturday.

Several other research analysts have also weighed in on the stock. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Sherwin-Williams from $375.00 to $412.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Friday, August 30th. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Sherwin-Williams from $365.00 to $380.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Friday, August 30th. KeyCorp boosted their target price on Sherwin-Williams from $400.00 to $410.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. BMO Capital Markets restated an outperform rating and issued a $400.00 price target (up previously from $386.00) on shares of Sherwin-Williams in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on shares of Sherwin-Williams from $392.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Monday, August 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Sherwin-Williams has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $370.39.

Sherwin-Williams Stock Performance

NYSE SHW opened at $380.63 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $96.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.58, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 1.17. The business’s 50 day moving average is $361.59 and its two-hundred day moving average is $330.33. Sherwin-Williams has a 12-month low of $232.06 and a 12-month high of $385.25. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.17.

Sherwin-Williams (NYSE:SHW) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The specialty chemicals company reported $3.70 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.51 by $0.19. The firm had revenue of $6.27 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.33 billion. Sherwin-Williams had a return on equity of 75.58% and a net margin of 10.92%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.29 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Sherwin-Williams will post 11.47 EPS for the current year.

Sherwin-Williams Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 16th were paid a dividend of $0.715 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 16th. This represents a $2.86 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.75%. Sherwin-Williams’s dividend payout ratio is currently 30.49%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Allen J. Mistysyn sold 14,520 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $366.83, for a total transaction of $5,326,371.60. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 63,520 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,301,041.60. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. First Financial Bank Trust Division purchased a new position in Sherwin-Williams in the third quarter valued at approximately $288,000. Neville Rodie & Shaw Inc. purchased a new position in Sherwin-Williams in the third quarter valued at approximately $240,000. Anchor Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Sherwin-Williams by 0.8% in the second quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 17,441 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $5,205,000 after buying an additional 138 shares during the period. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. raised its holdings in Sherwin-Williams by 4.7% in the second quarter. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. now owns 8,956 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $2,673,000 after buying an additional 403 shares during the period. Finally, Vienna Powszechne Towarzystwo Emerytalne S.A. Vienna Insurance Group raised its holdings in Sherwin-Williams by 3.3% in the second quarter. Vienna Powszechne Towarzystwo Emerytalne S.A. Vienna Insurance Group now owns 4,339 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $1,295,000 after buying an additional 138 shares during the period. 77.67% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.