Horizon Investments LLC Grows Stock Holdings in The Sherwin-Williams Company (NYSE:SHW)

Horizon Investments LLC increased its stake in shares of The Sherwin-Williams Company (NYSE:SHW) by 2.7% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 6,031 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after acquiring an additional 161 shares during the period. Horizon Investments LLC’s holdings in Sherwin-Williams were worth $2,050,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in Sherwin-Williams by 18.2% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,482,662 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $2,474,238,000 after buying an additional 999,164 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Sherwin-Williams by 1.3% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,733,131 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $1,799,196,000 after buying an additional 58,463 shares in the last quarter. Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd boosted its holdings in Sherwin-Williams by 5.6% during the fourth quarter. Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd now owns 2,171,802 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $738,261,000 after buying an additional 114,591 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in Sherwin-Williams by 12.2% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,724,746 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $586,293,000 after buying an additional 187,724 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Sherwin-Williams by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,472,073 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $500,402,000 after buying an additional 50,983 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.67% of the company’s stock.

Sherwin-Williams Stock Performance

Shares of SHW stock opened at $335.23 on Wednesday. The Sherwin-Williams Company has a one year low of $282.09 and a one year high of $400.42. 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 company has a 50 day moving average price of $353.97 and a 200 day moving average price of $365.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $84.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 1.23.

Sherwin-Williams (NYSE:SHW) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 quarter last year, the business earned $1.81 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that The Sherwin-Williams Company will post 12 EPS for the current year.

Sherwin-Williams Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd were given a dividend of $0.79 per share. This is a positive change from Sherwin-Williams’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $3.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.94%. Sherwin-Williams’s dividend payout ratio is 29.95%.

Insider Buying and Selling

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 completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 5,365 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,933,009.50. This represents a 34.28 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on SHW shares. Mizuho cut their target price on shares of Sherwin-Williams from $435.00 to $408.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Citigroup restated a “buy” rating and set a $423.00 target price (up previously from $418.00) on shares of Sherwin-Williams in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “hold” rating and set a $380.00 target price (down previously from $423.00) on shares of Sherwin-Williams in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Zelman & Associates upgraded shares of Sherwin-Williams to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of 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 analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Sherwin-Williams currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $401.13.

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.