Welch & Forbes LLC Has $8.97 Million Holdings in The Sherwin-Williams Company (NYSE:SHW)

Welch & Forbes LLC lowered its position in shares of The Sherwin-Williams Company (NYSE:SHW) by 0.6% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 28,747 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 173 shares during the quarter. Welch & Forbes LLC’s holdings in Sherwin-Williams were worth $8,966,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS increased its holdings in shares of Sherwin-Williams by 16.2% in the 3rd quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 47,568 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $12,132,000 after purchasing an additional 6,639 shares during the period. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc acquired a new position in shares of Sherwin-Williams in the fourth quarter worth $38,444,000. Machina Capital S.A.S. raised its holdings in shares of Sherwin-Williams by 149.0% during the third quarter. Machina Capital S.A.S. now owns 9,695 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $2,473,000 after acquiring an additional 5,801 shares in the last quarter. AIA Group Ltd boosted its position in Sherwin-Williams by 20.8% during the fourth quarter. AIA Group Ltd now owns 16,312 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $5,088,000 after purchasing an additional 2,810 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pearl River Capital LLC acquired a new position in Sherwin-Williams in the 3rd quarter worth about $4,517,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.67% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently commented on SHW. BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $377.00 price target (down previously from $385.00) on shares of Sherwin-Williams in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Sherwin-Williams from $317.00 to $315.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of Sherwin-Williams in a research note on Friday, March 1st. They issued a “peer perform” rating for the company. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Sherwin-Williams from $285.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 29th. Finally, Evercore ISI decreased their price target on Sherwin-Williams from $385.00 to $380.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Sherwin-Williams presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $341.39.

Insider Activity

In other Sherwin-Williams news, insider Todd D. Rea sold 2,449 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $313.54, for a total transaction of $767,859.46. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 9,329 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,925,014.66. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other Sherwin-Williams news, insider Justin T. Binns sold 1,563 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 13th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,935,302.68. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Todd D. Rea sold 2,449 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $313.54, for a total transaction of $767,859.46. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 9,329 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,925,014.66. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 32,050 shares of company stock worth $10,340,237. Corporate insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Sherwin-Williams Stock Performance

NYSE SHW traded up $3.76 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $318.75. The company had a trading volume of 1,776,441 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,491,588. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $326.67 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $302.91. The Sherwin-Williams Company has a fifty-two week low of $221.76 and a fifty-two week high of $348.37. The company has a quick ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.32. The stock has a market cap of $80.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.98, a P/E/G ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 1.18.

Sherwin-Williams (NYSE:SHW) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The specialty chemicals company reported $2.17 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.22 by ($0.05). The firm 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%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.04 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that The Sherwin-Williams Company will post 11.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sherwin-Williams Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.715 per share. This represents a $2.86 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.90%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 16th. Sherwin-Williams’s payout ratio is 30.49%.

Sherwin-Williams 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.