American Century Companies Inc. Acquires 140,423 Shares of The Sherwin-Williams Company $SHW

American Century Companies Inc. raised its holdings in The Sherwin-Williams Company (NYSE:SHW) by 34.5% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 547,526 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after purchasing an additional 140,423 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. owned approximately 0.22% of Sherwin-Williams worth $189,586,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Sherwin-Williams in the second quarter valued at approximately $1,296,565,000. Viking Global Investors LP raised its holdings in Sherwin-Williams by 101.4% in the 2nd quarter. Viking Global Investors LP now owns 1,957,750 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $672,213,000 after acquiring an additional 985,520 shares in the last quarter. Amundi lifted its position in shares of Sherwin-Williams by 55.8% during the 2nd quarter. Amundi now owns 1,665,333 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $587,047,000 after acquiring an additional 596,657 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in shares of Sherwin-Williams by 22.3% during the 2nd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,039,306 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $1,043,595,000 after purchasing an additional 553,275 shares in the last quarter. Finally, DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main increased its position in shares of Sherwin-Williams by 9.9% in the second quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 3,887,808 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $1,334,918,000 after purchasing an additional 351,453 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.67% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on SHW shares. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Sherwin-Williams in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of Sherwin-Williams from $400.00 to $410.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. UBS Group set a $420.00 price target on shares of Sherwin-Williams in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Vertical Research upgraded shares of Sherwin-Williams from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $371.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 7th. Finally, Citigroup restated a “buy” rating on shares of Sherwin-Williams in a research note on Monday, January 19th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $387.67.

Sherwin-Williams Trading Up 0.4%

Shares of SHW stock opened at $362.08 on Friday. The Sherwin-Williams Company has a twelve month low of $308.84 and a twelve month high of $379.65. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $350.29 and its 200 day simple moving average is $346.63. The company has a quick ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.03. The firm has a market capitalization of $89.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.26, a P/E/G ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 1.25.

Sherwin-Williams (NYSE:SHW) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The specialty chemicals company reported $2.23 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.16 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $5.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.57 billion. Sherwin-Williams had a return on equity of 65.26% and a net margin of 10.90%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.09 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that The Sherwin-Williams Company will post 12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sherwin-Williams Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 2nd will be issued a dividend of $0.80 per share. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 2nd. This is a positive change from Sherwin-Williams’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.79. Sherwin-Williams’s payout ratio is presently 30.77%.

Insider Activity at Sherwin-Williams

In other Sherwin-Williams news, SVP Bryan J. Young sold 2,513 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $364.47, for a total value of $915,913.11. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 10,045 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,661,101.15. This represents a 20.01% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Colin M. Davie sold 2,976 shares of Sherwin-Williams stock in a transaction on Monday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $359.50, for a total transaction of $1,069,872.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 5,365 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,928,717.50. This trade represents a 35.68% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Corporate insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Sherwin-Williams Company Profile

Sherwin-Williams (NYSE: SHW) is a global manufacturer and distributor of paints, coatings and related products. Founded in 1866 and headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, the company supplies a broad range of coatings for residential, commercial and industrial applications. Its product offering includes architectural paints and stains, industrial and protective coatings, automotive finishes, and a variety of sundry products such as primers, sealants and specialty treatments used by professionals and consumers.

The company sells through multiple channels, including a large network of company-operated retail paint stores that serve professional contractors and do-it-yourself consumers, as well as through distributors and mass retailers.