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

Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. raised its stake in The Sherwin-Williams Company (NYSE:SHW) by 1.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 10,852 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after acquiring an additional 131 shares during the quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co.’s holdings in Sherwin-Williams were worth $3,689,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in SHW. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Sherwin-Williams by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,836,648 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $7,422,932,000 after buying an additional 138,170 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Sherwin-Williams by 1.3% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,733,131 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $1,799,196,000 after purchasing an additional 58,463 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Sherwin-Williams in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,359,747,000. Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd raised its position in shares of Sherwin-Williams by 5.6% during the 4th quarter. Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd now owns 2,171,802 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $738,261,000 after purchasing an additional 114,591 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in Sherwin-Williams by 28.6% during the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,032,170 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $690,796,000 after buying an additional 451,505 shares in the last quarter. 77.67% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Robert W. Baird set a $370.00 price target on Sherwin-Williams in a research note on Friday, January 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Sherwin-Williams from $370.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Citigroup reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $423.00 target price (up from $418.00) on shares of Sherwin-Williams in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on shares of Sherwin-Williams from $438.00 to $415.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $380.00 target price (down from $423.00) on shares of Sherwin-Williams in a research note on Monday, March 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $401.13.

Insider Transactions at Sherwin-Williams

In related news, insider Colin M. Davie sold 2,799 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 5,365 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,933,009.50. This represents a 34.28 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Sherwin-Williams Trading Down 1.7 %

NYSE SHW opened at $339.77 on Friday. 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 $85.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.21, a PEG ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 1.23. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $353.59 and its two-hundred day moving average is $363.86. 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 issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The specialty chemicals company reported $2.09 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 period last year, the company posted $1.81 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that The Sherwin-Williams Company will post 12 earnings per share for the current year.

Sherwin-Williams Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were given a $0.79 dividend. This is an increase from Sherwin-Williams’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. This represents a $3.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.93%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. Sherwin-Williams’s payout ratio is currently 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.