Headlands Technologies LLC Acquires 559 Shares of The Sherwin-Williams Company (NYSE:SHW)

Headlands Technologies LLC boosted its holdings in The Sherwin-Williams Company (NYSE:SHW) by 34.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,188 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after acquiring an additional 559 shares during the quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC’s holdings in Sherwin-Williams were worth $744,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Sherwin-Williams by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,829,702 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $1,636,679,000 after purchasing an additional 96,571 shares in the last quarter. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Sherwin-Williams by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC now owns 15,098 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $5,456,000 after buying an additional 191 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Sherwin-Williams by 5.6% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,492,044 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $507,191,000 after acquiring an additional 79,322 shares in the last quarter. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG increased its position in shares of Sherwin-Williams by 63.4% during the fourth quarter. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG now owns 95,456 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $32,386,000 after acquiring an additional 37,051 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted its holdings in Sherwin-Williams by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 4,316,000 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $1,467,138,000 after acquiring an additional 86,268 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.67% of the company’s stock.

Sherwin-Williams Stock Up 0.9 %

SHW opened at $353.72 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.02, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.46. The Sherwin-Williams Company has a one year low of $282.09 and a one year high of $400.42. The firm has a market capitalization of $88.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $353.21 and a 200-day moving average price of $363.39.

Sherwin-Williams (NYSE:SHW) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The specialty chemicals company reported $2.09 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 last year, the company posted $1.81 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that The Sherwin-Williams Company will post 12 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sherwin-Williams Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were given a dividend of $0.79 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. This is a positive change from Sherwin-Williams’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. This represents a $3.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.89%. Sherwin-Williams’s payout ratio is presently 29.95%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Colin M. Davie sold 2,799 shares of Sherwin-Williams stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $360.30, for a total transaction of $1,008,479.70. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 5,365 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,933,009.50. The trade was a 34.28 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on SHW shares. Robert W. Baird set a $370.00 target price on Sherwin-Williams in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “hold” rating and set a $380.00 price objective (down previously from $423.00) on shares of Sherwin-Williams in a report on Monday, March 10th. Mizuho dropped their target price on shares of Sherwin-Williams from $435.00 to $408.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Citigroup restated a “buy” rating and set a $423.00 price target (up previously from $418.00) on shares of Sherwin-Williams in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on Sherwin-Williams from $438.00 to $415.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $400.19.

Sherwin-Williams Company Profile

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.