The Sherwin-Williams Company (NYSE:SHW) Shares Bought by Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd

Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd raised its stake in shares of The Sherwin-Williams Company (NYSE:SHW) by 5.6% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 2,171,802 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after purchasing an additional 114,591 shares during the period. Sherwin-Williams accounts for about 4.0% of Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd’s holdings, making the stock its 8th biggest position. Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd’s holdings in Sherwin-Williams were worth $738,261,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of SHW. FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of Sherwin-Williams by 18.2% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,482,662 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $2,474,238,000 after purchasing an additional 999,164 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Sherwin-Williams by 1.3% in the 3rd 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 last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in shares of Sherwin-Williams by 12.2% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,724,746 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $586,293,000 after purchasing an additional 187,724 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Sherwin-Williams by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,421,090 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $542,387,000 after purchasing an additional 15,843 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Sherwin-Williams by 5.8% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,412,722 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $542,711,000 after purchasing an additional 78,075 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.67% of the company’s stock.

Sherwin-Williams Price Performance

Shares of Sherwin-Williams stock opened at $359.62 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.02, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a current ratio of 0.79. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $350.65 and its 200-day simple moving average is $365.58. The Sherwin-Williams Company has a twelve month low of $282.09 and a twelve month high of $400.42. The firm has a market cap of $90.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 1.22.

Sherwin-Williams (NYSE:SHW) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The specialty chemicals company reported $2.09 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 quarter last year, the company posted $1.81 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect 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 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.79 per share. This is a positive change from Sherwin-Williams’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. This represents a $3.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.88%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd. Sherwin-Williams’s payout ratio is 29.95%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SHW has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on shares of Sherwin-Williams from $400.00 to $420.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Citigroup reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $423.00 target price (up previously from $418.00) on shares of Sherwin-Williams in a report on Wednesday. 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 report on Monday, February 3rd. Mizuho dropped their target price on shares of Sherwin-Williams from $435.00 to $408.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Sherwin-Williams from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, November 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Sherwin-Williams presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $400.76.

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.