Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC Sells 3,346 Shares of The Sherwin-Williams Company (NYSE:SHW)

Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC reduced its position in shares of The Sherwin-Williams Company (NYSE:SHW) by 0.9% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 384,759 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 3,346 shares during the period. Sherwin-Williams accounts for about 2.5% of Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 13th largest holding. Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC’s holdings in Sherwin-Williams were worth $130,791,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Midwest Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Sherwin-Williams in the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. FSA Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Sherwin-Williams in the 3rd quarter valued at $32,000. Sierra Ocean LLC acquired a new position in Sherwin-Williams in the fourth quarter worth $36,000. True Wealth Design LLC grew its holdings in shares of Sherwin-Williams by 1,000.0% during the third quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 99 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 90 shares during the last quarter. Finally, WR Wealth Planners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Sherwin-Williams by 41.7% during the fourth quarter. WR Wealth Planners LLC now owns 119 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares during the last quarter. 77.67% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Sherwin-Williams

In other Sherwin-Williams 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 value of $1,008,479.70. Following the completion of the sale, 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Sherwin-Williams Trading Up 0.3 %

SHW opened at $336.01 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 company has a market cap of $84.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 1.23. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $353.88 and a 200 day simple moving average of $364.83. 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 issued its 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 net margin of 11.61% and a return on equity of 74.50%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.81 earnings per share. 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 paid a $0.79 dividend. This represents a $3.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.94%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. This is an increase from Sherwin-Williams’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. Sherwin-Williams’s dividend payout ratio is presently 29.95%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently issued reports on SHW. Robert W. Baird set a $370.00 price target on Sherwin-Williams in a report on Friday, January 31st. Mizuho dropped 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 note on Tuesday, January 7th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Sherwin-Williams from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 28th. Citigroup reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $423.00 target price (up from $418.00) on shares of Sherwin-Williams in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target 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.