Beacon Investment Advisory Services Inc. Acquires 1,703 Shares of The Sherwin-Williams Company (NYSE:SHW)

Beacon Investment Advisory Services Inc. grew its stake in shares of The Sherwin-Williams Company (NYSE:SHW - Free Report) by 2.4% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 73,164 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock after buying an additional 1,703 shares during the quarter. Sherwin-Williams accounts for 1.2% of Beacon Investment Advisory Services Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 28th biggest position. Beacon Investment Advisory Services Inc.'s holdings in Sherwin-Williams were worth $25,548,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Sherwin-Williams by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,836,648 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $7,422,932,000 after acquiring an additional 138,170 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of Sherwin-Williams by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,588,755 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $2,239,715,000 after purchasing an additional 106,093 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Sherwin-Williams by 2.0% during the 4th 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 during the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. raised its position in Sherwin-Williams by 2.0% in the 4th 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. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in Sherwin-Williams in the fourth quarter worth $1,359,747,000. 77.67% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on SHW. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Sherwin-Williams from $390.00 to $378.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. UBS Group reduced their price target on Sherwin-Williams from $410.00 to $395.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Sherwin-Williams from $420.00 to $400.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Sherwin-Williams from $289.00 to $296.00 and gave the stock an "underperform" rating in a report on Monday, June 23rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of Sherwin-Williams from $405.00 to $385.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $385.29.

Sherwin-Williams Stock Down 0.7%

Shares of SHW traded down $2.56 on Thursday, reaching $340.38. The stock had a trading volume of 2,126,602 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,657,824. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.78, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a current ratio of 0.78. The Sherwin-Williams Company has a 12-month low of $308.84 and a 12-month high of $400.42. The firm has a market capitalization of $85.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.25 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $349.04 and a 200-day simple moving average of $348.04.

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

Sherwin-Williams Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 5th. Shareholders 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 0.93%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 15th. Sherwin-Williams's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 29.87%.

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.