Creative Planning Lowers Stake in The Sherwin-Williams Company (NYSE:SHW)

Creative Planning reduced its stake in shares of The Sherwin-Williams Company (NYSE:SHW) by 1.4% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 41,227 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 582 shares during the quarter. Creative Planning’s holdings in Sherwin-Williams were worth $12,303,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SHW. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Sherwin-Williams by 102.3% during the second quarter. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 89 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. Semmax Financial Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Sherwin-Williams by 136.4% during the 2nd quarter. Semmax Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 104 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. VitalStone Financial LLC lifted its position in Sherwin-Williams by 233.3% in the 2nd quarter. VitalStone Financial LLC now owns 110 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 77 shares during the last quarter. Anfield Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Sherwin-Williams in the second quarter worth approximately $38,000. Finally, Meeder Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in Sherwin-Williams during the second quarter valued at approximately $41,000. 77.67% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Allen J. Mistysyn sold 14,520 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $366.83, for a total value of $5,326,371.60. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on SHW. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $418.00 price objective on shares of Sherwin-Williams in a research note on Friday, August 30th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on Sherwin-Williams from $392.00 to $415.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 26th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Sherwin-Williams from $400.00 to $425.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Sherwin-Williams from $338.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Sherwin-Williams from $344.00 to $390.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $370.39.

Sherwin-Williams Price Performance

Shares of NYSE SHW opened at $380.63 on Wednesday. The Sherwin-Williams Company has a 1 year low of $232.06 and a 1 year high of $385.25. The stock has a market capitalization of $96.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.58, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 1.17. The company’s 50-day moving average is $361.59 and its 200 day moving average is $330.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.17, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.50.

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

Sherwin-Williams Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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. This represents a $2.86 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.75%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 16th. 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.