The Sherwin-Williams Company (NYSE:SHW) Shares Sold by New Mexico Educational Retirement Board

New Mexico Educational Retirement Board reduced its position in The Sherwin-Williams Company (NYSE:SHW) by 2.6% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 11,063 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 300 shares during the quarter. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board’s holdings in Sherwin-Williams were worth $3,761,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Merit Financial Group LLC raised its stake in Sherwin-Williams by 80.0% in the 4th quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 1,177 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $400,000 after purchasing an additional 523 shares during the last quarter. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV increased its stake in shares of Sherwin-Williams by 13.0% in the 3rd quarter. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV now owns 1,818 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $694,000 after acquiring an additional 209 shares during the last quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC increased its stake in shares of Sherwin-Williams by 52.6% in the 4th quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 6,680 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $2,271,000 after acquiring an additional 2,303 shares during the last quarter. Burney Co. increased its stake in shares of Sherwin-Williams by 4.6% in the 4th quarter. Burney Co. now owns 17,272 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $5,871,000 after acquiring an additional 766 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB increased its stake in shares of Sherwin-Williams by 4.2% in the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 117,055 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $44,676,000 after acquiring an additional 4,681 shares during the last quarter. 77.67% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have issued reports on SHW shares. Zelman & Associates raised Sherwin-Williams to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Barclays raised their target price on Sherwin-Williams from $355.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Evercore ISI raised their target price on Sherwin-Williams from $400.00 to $420.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Berenberg Bank upgraded Sherwin-Williams from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $321.00 to $420.00 in a report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Sherwin-Williams from $370.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $400.00.

Insider Transactions at Sherwin-Williams

In other Sherwin-Williams news, SVP Mary L. Garceau sold 15,770 shares of Sherwin-Williams stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $397.92, for a total transaction of $6,275,198.40. Following 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 filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Gregory P. Sofish sold 2,565 shares of Sherwin-Williams stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $378.63, for a total value of $971,185.95. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 6,329 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,396,349.27. This trade represents a 28.84 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Sherwin-Williams Stock Performance

Shares of Sherwin-Williams stock opened at $356.93 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $352.96 and a 200 day moving average of $365.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.02, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.46. The stock has a market capitalization of $89.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.15 and a beta of 1.22. The Sherwin-Williams Company has a 12 month low of $282.09 and a 12 month high of $400.42.

Sherwin-Williams (NYSE:SHW) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The specialty chemicals company reported $2.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.07 by $0.02. Sherwin-Williams had a return on equity of 74.50% and a net margin of 11.61%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.81 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that The Sherwin-Williams Company will post 12 earnings per share for the current year.

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.