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

Sherwin-Williams (NYSE:SHW) was downgraded by stock analysts at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued to investors on Thursday.

Several other research analysts have also commented on the company. Loop Capital lowered their price target on Sherwin-Williams from $395.00 to $380.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Citigroup lowered their price target on Sherwin-Williams from $390.00 to $370.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. KeyCorp upgraded Sherwin-Williams from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $400.00 price target for the company in a research report on Thursday. Mizuho lowered their price target on Sherwin-Williams from $340.00 to $334.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their price target on Sherwin-Williams from $300.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $337.37.

Sherwin-Williams Price Performance

SHW stock opened at $306.45 on Thursday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $328.05 and a two-hundred day moving average of $299.19. The company has a quick ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.32. The stock has a market cap of $77.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.15. Sherwin-Williams has a 52-week low of $221.76 and a 52-week high of $348.37.

Sherwin-Williams (NYSE:SHW) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The specialty chemicals company reported $2.17 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.22 by ($0.05). The business had revenue of $5.37 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.50 billion. Sherwin-Williams had a return on equity of 73.74% and a net margin of 10.52%. Sherwin-Williams’s revenue was down 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.04 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Sherwin-Williams will post 11.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Sherwin-Williams news, SVP Gregory P. Sofish sold 1,830 shares of Sherwin-Williams stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $320.70, for a total transaction of $586,881.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 6,329 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,029,710.30. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, insider Justin T. Binns sold 1,563 shares of Sherwin-Williams stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $338.87, for a total transaction of $529,653.81. Following the sale, the insider now owns 14,564 shares in the company, valued at $4,935,302.68. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Gregory P. Sofish sold 1,830 shares of Sherwin-Williams stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $320.70, for a total value of $586,881.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 6,329 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,029,710.30. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 32,050 shares of company stock valued at $10,340,237 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Sherwin-Williams

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in SHW. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Sherwin-Williams during the fourth quarter worth about $1,176,356,000. FMR LLC increased its position in Sherwin-Williams by 65.4% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,427,014 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $1,384,160,000 after acquiring an additional 2,146,102 shares during the period. Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd acquired a new position in Sherwin-Williams in the 4th quarter valued at about $432,737,000. Capital World Investors increased its position in Sherwin-Williams by 38.9% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 3,840,789 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $1,197,952,000 after acquiring an additional 1,075,351 shares during the period. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in Sherwin-Williams by 2,853.9% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 650,186 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $202,793,000 after acquiring an additional 628,175 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.67% of the company’s stock.

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.