Sherwin-Williams’ (SHW) “Outperform” Rating Reiterated at BMO Capital Markets

BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed their outperform rating on shares of Sherwin-Williams (NYSE:SHW) in a research note released on Wednesday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $400.00 target price on the specialty chemicals company’s stock, up from their previous target price of $386.00.

SHW has been the topic of several other research reports. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an outperform rating and issued a $418.00 target price on shares of Sherwin-Williams in a research report on Friday, August 30th. Redburn Atlantic raised Sherwin-Williams to a strong-buy rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on Sherwin-Williams from $310.00 to $325.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on Sherwin-Williams from $365.00 to $380.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Friday, August 30th. Finally, KeyCorp boosted their price target on Sherwin-Williams from $400.00 to $410.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $362.68.

Sherwin-Williams Price Performance

Shares of NYSE SHW opened at $362.70 on Wednesday. Sherwin-Williams has a twelve month low of $232.06 and a twelve month high of $371.19. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $336.71 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $324.27. The company has a quick ratio of 0.50, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.17. The company has a market cap of $91.49 billion, a PE ratio of 38.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 1.17.

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 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 company had revenue of $6.27 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.33 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $3.29 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Sherwin-Williams will post 11.47 EPS for the current year.

Sherwin-Williams Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.715 per share. This represents a $2.86 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.79%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 16th. Sherwin-Williams’s payout ratio is presently 30.49%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Sherwin-Williams 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 $23,301,041.60. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of SHW. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Sherwin-Williams in the 4th quarter valued at $1,176,356,000. Capital World Investors lifted its stake in shares of Sherwin-Williams by 38.9% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 3,840,789 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $1,197,952,000 after acquiring an additional 1,075,351 shares during the last quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Sherwin-Williams by 132.8% in the 2nd quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,609,392 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $480,291,000 after acquiring an additional 917,979 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in shares of Sherwin-Williams by 610.0% in the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,045,374 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $311,971,000 after acquiring an additional 898,143 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jensen Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Sherwin-Williams in the second quarter valued at $169,770,000. 77.67% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.