Maple Capital Management Inc. Decreases Holdings in The Sherwin-Williams Company (NYSE:SHW)

Maple Capital Management Inc. lowered its stake in shares of The Sherwin-Williams Company (NYSE:SHW) by 5.1% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 2,286 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 122 shares during the period. Maple Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Sherwin-Williams were worth $777,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. SVB Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in Sherwin-Williams during the 4th quarter worth approximately $374,000. Flputnam Investment Management Co. boosted its stake in shares of Sherwin-Williams by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Flputnam Investment Management Co. now owns 49,040 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $16,670,000 after acquiring an additional 688 shares during the last quarter. Dynasty Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Sherwin-Williams by 6.2% during the fourth quarter. Dynasty Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,381 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $809,000 after purchasing an additional 140 shares in the last quarter. Pettyjohn Wood & White Inc. raised its stake in Sherwin-Williams by 20.9% in the 4th quarter. Pettyjohn Wood & White Inc. now owns 4,492 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $1,527,000 after purchasing an additional 775 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Van Cleef Asset Management Inc purchased a new position in Sherwin-Williams in the 4th quarter valued at $204,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.67% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Mizuho lowered their target price on shares of Sherwin-Williams from $435.00 to $408.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Sherwin-Williams from $370.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Robert W. Baird set a $370.00 price objective on shares of Sherwin-Williams in a report on Friday, January 31st. StockNews.com lowered shares of Sherwin-Williams from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 28th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Sherwin-Williams from $450.00 to $405.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Sherwin-Williams presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $403.31.

Sherwin-Williams Trading Up 2.0 %

Shares of Sherwin-Williams stock opened at $362.46 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $351.26 and a 200 day moving average of $365.65. 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 has a market capitalization of $91.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.36, a PEG ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 1.22. The Sherwin-Williams Company has a fifty-two week low of $282.09 and a fifty-two week high of $400.42.

Sherwin-Williams (NYSE:SHW) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The specialty chemicals company reported $2.09 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 last year, the firm posted $1.81 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that The Sherwin-Williams Company will post 12 earnings per share for the current year.

Sherwin-Williams Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.79 per share. This represents a $3.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.87%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd. This is a positive change from Sherwin-Williams’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. Sherwin-Williams’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.