Sherwin-Williams (NYSE:SHW) Rating Increased to Buy at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Sherwin-Williams (NYSE:SHW) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report released on Wednesday.

Several other research firms have also commented on SHW. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on Sherwin-Williams from $392.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 26th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Sherwin-Williams from $350.00 to $400.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on shares of Sherwin-Williams from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Evercore ISI increased their target price on shares of Sherwin-Williams from $400.00 to $420.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, UBS Group restated an “underperform” rating on shares of Sherwin-Williams in a research report on Friday, October 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $396.47.

Sherwin-Williams Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of SHW stock opened at $371.66 on Wednesday. Sherwin-Williams has a 1-year low of $270.95 and a 1-year high of $392.57. The company has a market cap of $93.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.02, a PEG ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 1.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.97, a current ratio of 0.83 and a quick ratio of 0.51. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $376.69 and a 200-day simple moving average of $343.40.

Sherwin-Williams (NYSE:SHW) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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). Sherwin-Williams had a return on equity of 74.45% and a net margin of 11.09%. The company had revenue of $6.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.20 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $3.20 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up .7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Sherwin-Williams will post 11.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sherwin-Williams Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.715 per share. This represents a $2.86 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.77%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 15th. Sherwin-Williams’s dividend payout ratio is presently 28.49%.

Insider Activity at Sherwin-Williams

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

Institutional Trading of Sherwin-Williams

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in SHW. FMR LLC grew its holdings in shares of Sherwin-Williams by 18.2% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,482,662 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $2,474,238,000 after purchasing an additional 999,164 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Sherwin-Williams by 1.3% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,733,131 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $1,799,196,000 after acquiring an additional 58,463 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors increased its position in shares of Sherwin-Williams by 10.5% during the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 2,302,120 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $799,595,000 after acquiring an additional 219,149 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc raised its stake in shares of Sherwin-Williams by 2.9% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 1,921,846 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $573,538,000 after acquiring an additional 53,487 shares in the last quarter. Finally, PineStone Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Sherwin-Williams by 132.8% in the second quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,609,392 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $480,291,000 after purchasing an additional 917,979 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.67% of the company’s stock.

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.