First Horizon Advisors Inc. Has $957,000 Position in The Sherwin-Williams Company (NYSE:SHW)

First Horizon Advisors Inc. lowered its position in The Sherwin-Williams Company (NYSE:SHW) by 8.8% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 2,816 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 271 shares during the period. First Horizon Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Sherwin-Williams were worth $957,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FMR LLC increased its holdings in Sherwin-Williams by 18.2% in 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 during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Sherwin-Williams by 1.3% in 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 during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Sherwin-Williams by 1.1% in 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 buying an additional 15,843 shares during 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 during the period. 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 during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.67% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on SHW shares. Evercore ISI upped their target price on Sherwin-Williams from $400.00 to $420.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Zelman & Associates raised Sherwin-Williams to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Sherwin-Williams from $370.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Berenberg Bank raised Sherwin-Williams from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $321.00 to $420.00 in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their target price 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 equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $400.59.

Sherwin-Williams Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of SHW stock opened at $343.97 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $86.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 1.22. The Sherwin-Williams Company has a one year low of $282.09 and a one year high of $400.42. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $350.62 and a 200 day moving average price of $365.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.02, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.46.

Sherwin-Williams (NYSE:SHW) last issued its 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 return on equity of 74.50% and a net margin of 11.61%. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.81 earnings per share. Analysts predict that The Sherwin-Williams Company will post 12 earnings per share for the current 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 paid a $0.79 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 3rd. This is a positive change from Sherwin-Williams’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. This represents a $3.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.92%. Sherwin-Williams’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 29.95%.

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.