Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI Sells 294,331 Shares of The Sherwin-Williams Company (NYSE:SHW)

Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI decreased its position in shares of The Sherwin-Williams Company (NYSE:SHW) by 97.3% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,200 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 294,331 shares during the quarter. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI’s holdings in Sherwin-Williams were worth $2,848,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of SHW. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Sherwin-Williams by 0.9% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,620,939 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $7,509,601,000 after acquiring an additional 184,979 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors grew its holdings in Sherwin-Williams by 38.9% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 3,840,789 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $1,197,952,000 after purchasing an additional 1,075,351 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Sherwin-Williams in the fourth quarter worth $1,176,356,000. Clearbridge Investments LLC raised its stake in shares of Sherwin-Williams by 4.4% in the fourth quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 2,779,294 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $866,862,000 after buying an additional 116,647 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors increased its holdings in Sherwin-Williams by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 2,536,096 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $791,008,000 after acquiring an additional 56,161 shares during the last quarter. 77.67% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on SHW shares. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on shares of Sherwin-Williams from $360.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Sherwin-Williams from $310.00 to $325.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. KeyCorp lifted their target price on Sherwin-Williams from $400.00 to $410.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Sherwin-Williams from $370.00 to $418.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Mizuho cut their price target on shares of Sherwin-Williams from $340.00 to $334.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $355.00.

Sherwin-Williams Trading Down 0.5 %

NYSE:SHW traded down $1.82 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $350.73. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 516,650 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,612,336. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.17, a quick ratio of 0.50 and a current ratio of 0.81. The firm has a market capitalization of $88.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.40, a PEG ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 1.16. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $308.11 and a 200-day simple moving average of $315.36. The Sherwin-Williams Company has a 1 year low of $232.06 and a 1 year high of $356.48.

Sherwin-Williams (NYSE:SHW) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The specialty chemicals company reported $3.70 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.51 by $0.19. Sherwin-Williams had a return on equity of 75.58% and a net margin of 10.92%. The firm had revenue of $6.27 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.33 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.29 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up .5% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that The Sherwin-Williams Company will post 11.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sherwin-Williams Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 6th. Investors of record on Friday, August 16th will be paid a $0.715 dividend. This represents a $2.86 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.82%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 16th. Sherwin-Williams’s payout ratio is 30.49%.

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.