The Sherwin-Williams Company (NYSE:SHW) Shares Sold by Brown Advisory Inc.

Brown Advisory Inc. lowered its position in shares of The Sherwin-Williams Company (NYSE:SHW - Free Report) by 10.5% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 703,956 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock after selling 82,483 shares during the quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. owned approximately 0.28% of Sherwin-Williams worth $245,814,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Planning Directions Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Sherwin-Williams in the first quarter valued at approximately $263,000. Synergy Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Sherwin-Williams by 583.3% during the 1st quarter. Synergy Investment Management LLC now owns 82 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares during the period. Financial Counselors Inc. boosted its holdings in Sherwin-Williams by 1.6% during the 1st quarter. Financial Counselors Inc. now owns 26,473 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $9,244,000 after acquiring an additional 419 shares during the period. YANKCOM Partnership boosted its holdings in Sherwin-Williams by 8.8% during the 1st quarter. YANKCOM Partnership now owns 420 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $147,000 after acquiring an additional 34 shares during the period. Finally, TD Private Client Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in Sherwin-Williams by 11.4% during the 1st quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 4,464 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $1,559,000 after acquiring an additional 457 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.67% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have issued reports on SHW. UBS Group increased their price target on Sherwin-Williams from $398.00 to $410.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Sherwin-Williams from $405.00 to $385.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Bank of America raised their target price on Sherwin-Williams from $289.00 to $296.00 and gave the stock an "underperform" rating in a research report on Monday, June 23rd. Barclays cut their target price on Sherwin-Williams from $385.00 to $355.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price target on Sherwin-Williams from $410.00 to $420.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $391.94.

Sherwin-Williams Price Performance

Shares of Sherwin-Williams stock traded up $0.36 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $346.36. The company's stock had a trading volume of 328,271 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,740,395. The company has a quick ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.90. The Sherwin-Williams Company has a 12-month low of $298.82 and a 12-month high of $400.42. The company has a market capitalization of $86.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 1.18. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $351.46 and a 200-day moving average price of $347.93.

Sherwin-Williams (NYSE:SHW - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The specialty chemicals company reported $2.25 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.23 by $0.02. Sherwin-Williams had a return on equity of 71.86% and a net margin of 11.63%. The firm had revenue of $5.31 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.42 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.17 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 1.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that The Sherwin-Williams Company will post 12 EPS for the current year.

Sherwin-Williams Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 6th. Investors of record on Friday, May 16th were issued a dividend of $0.79 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 16th. This represents a $3.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.91%. Sherwin-Williams's dividend payout ratio is presently 29.87%.

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.