Principal Financial Group Inc. Lowers Holdings in The Sherwin-Williams Company (NYSE:SHW)

Principal Financial Group Inc. decreased its stake in The Sherwin-Williams Company (NYSE:SHW) by 7.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 966,905 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 80,269 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.38% of Sherwin-Williams worth $328,681,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. FMR LLC boosted its position 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 purchasing an additional 999,164 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position 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 purchasing an additional 58,463 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Sherwin-Williams by 1.1% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,421,090 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $542,387,000 after purchasing an additional 15,843 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in Sherwin-Williams by 5.8% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,412,722 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $542,711,000 after purchasing an additional 78,075 shares in the last quarter. Finally, PineStone Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in Sherwin-Williams by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,124,999 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $382,421,000 after purchasing an additional 40,825 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.67% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Mary L. Garceau sold 15,770 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 29,205 shares in the company, valued at $11,621,253.60. This trade represents a 35.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have issued reports on SHW. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on Sherwin-Williams from $438.00 to $415.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Barclays increased their price target on Sherwin-Williams from $355.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Sherwin-Williams from $370.00 to $390.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Zelman & Associates upgraded Sherwin-Williams to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their target price on Sherwin-Williams from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $400.00.

Sherwin-Williams Price Performance

NYSE:SHW opened at $356.93 on Monday. 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 stock has a market cap of $89.89 billion, a PE ratio of 33.83, a P/E/G ratio of 3.15 and a beta of 1.22. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $352.96 and a 200 day moving average price of $365.21.

Sherwin-Williams (NYSE:SHW) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The specialty chemicals company reported $2.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.81 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that The Sherwin-Williams Company will post 12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.