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

Shares of The Sherwin-Williams Company (NYSE:SHW) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the eighteen research firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 1 year target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $402.25.

SHW has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. UBS Group reiterated an “underperform” rating on shares of Sherwin-Williams in a research note on Friday, October 18th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of Sherwin-Williams from $400.00 to $425.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Sherwin-Williams from $375.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of Sherwin-Williams from $400.00 to $420.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, KeyCorp reaffirmed a “sector weight” rating on shares of Sherwin-Williams in a research note on Monday, October 7th.

Sherwin-Williams Trading Up 1.6 %

NYSE SHW opened at $346.94 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.97, a quick ratio of 0.51 and a current ratio of 0.83. Sherwin-Williams has a one year low of $282.09 and a one year high of $400.42. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $365.83 and its 200 day moving average price is $359.11. The firm has a market capitalization of $87.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.56, a PEG ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 1.22.

Sherwin-Williams (NYSE:SHW) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The specialty chemicals company reported $3.37 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.56 by ($0.19). Sherwin-Williams had a net margin of 11.09% and a return on equity of 74.45%. The business had revenue of $6.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.20 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.20 EPS. The business’s revenue was up .7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Sherwin-Williams will post 11.32 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Sherwin-Williams

In other Sherwin-Williams news, SVP Mary L. Garceau sold 15,770 shares of Sherwin-Williams stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $397.92, for a total value of $6,275,198.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 29,205 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,621,253.60. The trade was a 35.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Gregory P. Sofish sold 2,565 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $378.63, for a total transaction of $971,185.95. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 6,329 shares in the company, valued at $2,396,349.27. This trade represents a 28.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of SHW. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in Sherwin-Williams by 18.2% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,482,662 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $2,474,238,000 after acquiring an additional 999,164 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Sherwin-Williams by 40,317.4% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 726,705 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $277,361,000 after purchasing an additional 724,907 shares during the last quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. boosted its position in Sherwin-Williams by 54.0% during the 2nd quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,416,257 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $422,654,000 after purchasing an additional 496,326 shares during the period. Mizuho Securities USA LLC grew its stake in Sherwin-Williams by 1,717.9% during the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 326,903 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $124,769,000 after buying an additional 308,921 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Canoe Financial LP increased its position in Sherwin-Williams by 542.0% in the fourth quarter. Canoe Financial LP now owns 339,707 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $115,477,000 after buying an additional 286,791 shares during the period. 77.67% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.