Prescott Group Capital Management L.L.C. Purchases Shares of 775 The Sherwin-Williams Company (NYSE:SHW)

Key Points

• Prescott Group Capital Management acquired a new stake in The Sherwin-Williams Company, purchasing 775 shares valued at approximately $271,000.
• Several institutional investors have significantly increased their holdings in Sherwin-Williams, with Brighton Jones LLC raising by **73.6%** and Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management increasing their stake by **79.5%**.
• Sherwin-Williams recently reported earnings of $3.38 per share, missing estimates by $0.38, while also declaring a quarterly dividend of $0.79.

Prescott Group Capital Management L.L.C. acquired a new position in shares of The Sherwin-Williams Company (NYSE:SHW - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 775 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock, valued at approximately $271,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. FMR LLC lifted its position in Sherwin-Williams by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,588,755 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $2,239,715,000 after purchasing an additional 106,093 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Sherwin-Williams by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,829,702 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $1,636,679,000 after purchasing an additional 96,571 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted its position in Sherwin-Williams by 2.0% in 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 purchasing an additional 86,268 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Sherwin-Williams in the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,359,747,000. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors lifted its position in Sherwin-Williams by 47.1% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 2,998,647 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $1,019,329,000 after purchasing an additional 960,724 shares during the period. 77.67% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Mizuho cut their price objective on Sherwin-Williams from $400.00 to $385.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Bank of America increased their price objective on Sherwin-Williams from $289.00 to $296.00 and gave the company an "underperform" rating in a research report on Monday, June 23rd. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on Sherwin-Williams from $405.00 to $391.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Citigroup cut their target price on shares of Sherwin-Williams from $385.00 to $375.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 23rd. Finally, Barclays cut their target price on shares of Sherwin-Williams from $385.00 to $355.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $383.33.

Sherwin-Williams Stock Down 0.0%

Shares of NYSE SHW traded down $0.04 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $336.12. The company had a trading volume of 474,216 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,752,495. The Sherwin-Williams Company has a twelve month low of $308.84 and a twelve month high of $400.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.78, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a current ratio of 0.78. The stock has a market capitalization of $84.23 billion, a PE ratio of 33.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 1.18. The stock's 50 day moving average is $347.64 and its 200-day moving average is $348.30.

Sherwin-Williams (NYSE:SHW - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 22nd. The specialty chemicals company reported $3.38 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $3.76 by ($0.38). The company had revenue of $6.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.31 billion. Sherwin-Williams had a return on equity of 66.91% and a net margin of 11.03%. The company's revenue was up .6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $3.70 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that The Sherwin-Williams Company will post 12 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sherwin-Williams Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 5th. Investors of record on Friday, August 15th will be issued a $0.79 dividend. This represents a $3.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.94%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 15th. Sherwin-Williams's dividend payout ratio is presently 31.35%.

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.