Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. Boosts Stock Position in The Sherwin-Williams Company (NYSE:SHW)

Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. grew its stake in shares of The Sherwin-Williams Company (NYSE:SHW) by 1.2% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 10,852 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after purchasing an additional 131 shares during the period. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co.’s holdings in Sherwin-Williams were worth $3,689,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of SHW. Midwest Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Sherwin-Williams during the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Lee Danner & Bass Inc. acquired a new position in Sherwin-Williams during the fourth quarter worth approximately $28,000. FSA Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Sherwin-Williams in the third quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Sierra Ocean LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Sherwin-Williams in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Finally, True Wealth Design LLC grew its position in shares of Sherwin-Williams by 1,000.0% during the third quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 99 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 90 shares during the last quarter. 77.67% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Colin M. Davie sold 2,799 shares of Sherwin-Williams stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $360.30, for a total transaction of $1,008,479.70. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 5,365 shares in the company, valued at $1,933,009.50. The trade was a 34.28 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Mizuho reduced their target price on shares of Sherwin-Williams from $435.00 to $408.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $380.00 price target (down from $423.00) on shares of Sherwin-Williams in a report on Monday, March 10th. Zelman & Associates upgraded shares of Sherwin-Williams to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Berenberg Bank upgraded shares of Sherwin-Williams from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $321.00 to $420.00 in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $370.00 price target on shares of Sherwin-Williams in a report on Friday, January 31st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $401.13.

Sherwin-Williams Stock Down 1.7 %

SHW opened at $339.77 on Friday. The Sherwin-Williams Company has a one year low of $282.09 and a one year high of $400.42. The company has a market cap of $85.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.21, a PEG ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 1.23. The business’s fifty day moving average is $353.59 and its two-hundred day moving average is $363.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.02, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a current ratio of 0.79.

Sherwin-Williams (NYSE:SHW) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The specialty chemicals company reported $2.09 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.07 by $0.02. Sherwin-Williams had a net margin of 11.61% and a return on equity of 74.50%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.81 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that The Sherwin-Williams Company will post 12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sherwin-Williams Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were given a dividend of $0.79 per share. This is an increase from Sherwin-Williams’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $3.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.93%. Sherwin-Williams’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 29.95%.

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.