Farallon Capital Management LLC Trims Holdings in The Sherwin-Williams Company (NYSE:SHW)

Farallon Capital Management LLC lessened its stake in The Sherwin-Williams Company (NYSE:SHW) by 14.1% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 647,550 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 106,280 shares during the quarter. Farallon Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Sherwin-Williams were worth $193,248,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SHW. Waterloo Capital L.P. bought a new position in Sherwin-Williams during the fourth quarter worth $360,000. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Sherwin-Williams by 7.9% in the 2nd quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,636 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $787,000 after buying an additional 193 shares during the period. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV raised its stake in Sherwin-Williams by 7.2% during the first quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 1,533 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $532,000 after acquiring an additional 103 shares during the period. Brevan Howard Capital Management LP grew its holdings in shares of Sherwin-Williams by 259.1% during the fourth quarter. Brevan Howard Capital Management LP now owns 6,998 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $2,183,000 after purchasing an additional 5,049 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Transcend Capital Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Sherwin-Williams by 24.1% during the 2nd quarter. Transcend Capital Advisors LLC now owns 7,805 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $2,329,000 after purchasing an additional 1,514 shares during the period. 77.67% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SHW has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and set a $400.00 price objective (up from $386.00) on shares of Sherwin-Williams in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $418.00 price objective on shares of Sherwin-Williams in a report on Friday, August 30th. Redburn Atlantic raised Sherwin-Williams to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Sherwin-Williams from $320.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on Sherwin-Williams from $375.00 to $412.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $362.68.

Sherwin-Williams Trading Up 0.9 %

Sherwin-Williams stock opened at $381.85 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $355.09 and a 200 day moving average price of $328.48. 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 Sherwin-Williams Company has a 52 week low of $232.06 and a 52 week high of $382.83. The firm has a market capitalization of $96.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.71, a P/E/G ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 1.17.

Sherwin-Williams (NYSE:SHW) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The specialty chemicals company reported $3.70 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $6.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.33 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $3.29 earnings per share. Sherwin-Williams’s quarterly revenue was up .5% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that The Sherwin-Williams Company will post 11.47 EPS for the current year.

Sherwin-Williams Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 16th were paid a $0.715 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 16th. This represents a $2.86 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.75%. Sherwin-Williams’s dividend payout ratio is presently 30.49%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Sherwin-Williams

In related news, CFO Allen J. Mistysyn sold 14,520 shares of the 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 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.