Royal London Asset Management Ltd. Raises Holdings in The Sherwin-Williams Company (NYSE:SHW)

Royal London Asset Management Ltd. increased its position in The Sherwin-Williams Company (NYSE:SHW) by 14.3% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 106,566 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after buying an additional 13,365 shares during the period. Royal London Asset Management Ltd.’s holdings in Sherwin-Williams were worth $31,802,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. First United Bank & Trust bought a new position in shares of Sherwin-Williams during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Tortoise Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Sherwin-Williams by 158.5% during the fourth quarter. Tortoise Investment Management LLC now owns 106 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. Anfield Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Sherwin-Williams in the 2nd quarter worth about $38,000. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Sherwin-Williams in the 1st quarter worth about $47,000. Finally, Rise Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Sherwin-Williams by 1,154.5% during the 1st quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 138 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $48,000 after buying an additional 127 shares in the last quarter. 77.67% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SHW has been the topic of several analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on Sherwin-Williams from $392.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 26th. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on Sherwin-Williams from $310.00 to $325.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $400.00 price target (up from $386.00) on shares of Sherwin-Williams in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. KeyCorp increased their price objective on shares of Sherwin-Williams from $400.00 to $410.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Sherwin-Williams from $320.00 to $350.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $362.68.

Sherwin-Williams Stock Performance

Shares of Sherwin-Williams stock opened at $371.85 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.17. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $342.13 and its 200-day moving average price is $325.70. The firm has a market cap of $93.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.64, a P/E/G ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 1.17. The Sherwin-Williams Company has a 12 month low of $232.06 and a 12 month high of $372.34.

Sherwin-Williams (NYSE:SHW) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The specialty chemicals company reported $3.70 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.51 by $0.19. Sherwin-Williams had a net margin of 10.92% and a return on equity of 75.58%. The business had revenue of $6.27 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.33 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.29 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that The Sherwin-Williams Company will post 11.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sherwin-Williams Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 16th were given a dividend of $0.715 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 16th. This represents a $2.86 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.77%. Sherwin-Williams’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 30.49%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Allen J. Mistysyn sold 14,520 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $366.83, for a total transaction of $5,326,371.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 63,520 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,301,041.60. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

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.