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

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

SHW has been the topic of several other reports. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Sherwin-Williams from $315.00 to $355.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Evercore ISI raised their price target on Sherwin-Williams from $365.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Friday, August 30th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Sherwin-Williams from $320.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. KeyCorp lifted their target price on Sherwin-Williams from $400.00 to $410.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on shares of Sherwin-Williams from $344.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Sherwin-Williams has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $370.39.

Sherwin-Williams Stock Down 0.3 %

SHW stock opened at $380.63 on Friday. Sherwin-Williams has a one year low of $232.06 and a one year high of $385.25. The firm has a market cap of $96.02 billion, a PE ratio of 40.58, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 1.17. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $361.59 and its 200-day moving average price is $330.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.17, a quick ratio of 0.50 and a current ratio of 0.81.

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

Sherwin-Williams Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 16th were issued a $0.715 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 16th. This represents a $2.86 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.75%. Sherwin-Williams’s payout ratio is currently 30.49%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Allen J. Mistysyn sold 14,520 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 63,520 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,301,041.60. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Sherwin-Williams

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in Sherwin-Williams by 102.3% during the 2nd quarter. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 89 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. Semmax Financial Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Sherwin-Williams by 136.4% during the second quarter. Semmax Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 104 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. VitalStone Financial LLC raised its stake in shares of Sherwin-Williams by 233.3% during the second quarter. VitalStone Financial LLC now owns 110 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 77 shares during the last quarter. Anfield Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Sherwin-Williams during the second quarter worth $38,000. Finally, Meeder Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in Sherwin-Williams in the 2nd quarter valued at $41,000. 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.