V Square Quantitative Management LLC Grows Position in The Sherwin-Williams Company (NYSE:SHW)

V Square Quantitative Management LLC boosted its holdings in The Sherwin-Williams Company (NYSE:SHW) by 16.7% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 1,382 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after buying an additional 198 shares during the quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC’s holdings in Sherwin-Williams were worth $470,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Merit Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in Sherwin-Williams by 80.0% in the fourth quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 1,177 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $400,000 after purchasing an additional 523 shares in the last quarter. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV boosted its holdings in Sherwin-Williams by 13.0% in the third quarter. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV now owns 1,818 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $694,000 after purchasing an additional 209 shares in the last quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC boosted its holdings in Sherwin-Williams by 52.6% in the fourth quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 6,680 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $2,271,000 after purchasing an additional 2,303 shares in the last quarter. Burney Co. boosted its holdings in Sherwin-Williams by 4.6% in the fourth quarter. Burney Co. now owns 17,272 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $5,871,000 after purchasing an additional 766 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB boosted its holdings in Sherwin-Williams by 4.2% in the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 117,055 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $44,676,000 after purchasing an additional 4,681 shares in the last quarter. 77.67% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Sherwin-Williams Trading Down 1.2 %

Shares of SHW stock opened at $356.93 on Friday. The Sherwin-Williams Company has a fifty-two week low of $282.09 and a fifty-two week high of $400.42. The stock has a market cap of $89.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.83, a P/E/G ratio of 3.15 and a beta of 1.22. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $352.96 and a 200-day simple moving average of $365.12. The company has a quick ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.02.

Sherwin-Williams (NYSE:SHW) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The specialty chemicals company reported $2.09 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.07 by $0.02. Sherwin-Williams had a return on equity of 74.50% and a net margin of 11.61%. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.81 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that The Sherwin-Williams Company will post 12 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on SHW. Barclays upped their price target on Sherwin-Williams from $355.00 to $370.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Berenberg Bank raised Sherwin-Williams from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $321.00 to $420.00 in a report on Friday, January 24th. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on Sherwin-Williams from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on Sherwin-Williams from $438.00 to $415.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Citigroup decreased their price objective on Sherwin-Williams from $430.00 to $420.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Sherwin-Williams has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $400.00.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Gregory P. Sofish sold 2,565 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $378.63, for a total transaction of $971,185.95. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 6,329 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,396,349.27. This trade represents a 28.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Mary L. Garceau sold 15,770 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $397.92, for a total value of $6,275,198.40. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 29,205 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,621,253.60. The trade was a 35.06 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 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.