Park Avenue Securities LLC Buys 449 Shares of The Sherwin-Williams Company (NYSE:SHW)

Park Avenue Securities LLC increased its stake in shares of The Sherwin-Williams Company (NYSE:SHW) by 11.6% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 4,331 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after acquiring an additional 449 shares during the quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC’s holdings in Sherwin-Williams were worth $1,504,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Sherwin-Williams by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,435,960 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $6,685,876,000 after acquiring an additional 179,274 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley boosted its stake in Sherwin-Williams by 1.5% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 5,063,957 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $1,291,563,000 after buying an additional 75,571 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors boosted its stake 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 worth $1,197,952,000 after buying an additional 1,075,351 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Sherwin-Williams during the fourth quarter worth $1,176,356,000. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC boosted its stake in Sherwin-Williams by 4.4% during the fourth quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 2,779,294 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $866,862,000 after buying an additional 116,647 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 77.67% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SHW has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Loop Capital decreased their price target on shares of Sherwin-Williams from $395.00 to $380.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Sherwin-Williams from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of Sherwin-Williams from $360.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 14th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on shares of Sherwin-Williams from $377.00 to $360.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. Finally, KeyCorp upgraded shares of Sherwin-Williams from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $400.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $343.41.

Sherwin-Williams Stock Performance

Sherwin-Williams stock opened at $301.26 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $306.29 and a 200 day simple moving average of $313.39. The company has a quick ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.32. The Sherwin-Williams Company has a 12-month low of $232.06 and a 12-month high of $348.37. The stock has a market capitalization of $76.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.12, a P/E/G ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 1.17.

Sherwin-Williams (NYSE:SHW) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The specialty chemicals company reported $2.17 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.22 by ($0.05). Sherwin-Williams had a net margin of 10.52% and a return on equity of 73.74%. The business had revenue of $5.37 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.50 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.04 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that The Sherwin-Williams Company will post 11.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sherwin-Williams Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 17th were issued a dividend of $0.715 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $2.86 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.95%. Sherwin-Williams’s dividend payout ratio is currently 30.49%.

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.