Sherwin-Williams (NYSE:SHW) Lowered to Neutral Rating by Citigroup

Citigroup downgraded shares of Sherwin-Williams (NYSE:SHW - Free Report) from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a research report report published on Friday, MarketBeat reports. The brokerage currently has $385.00 price objective on the specialty chemicals company's stock, down from their prior price objective of $405.00.

A number of other equities analysts have also weighed in on SHW. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on Sherwin-Williams from $410.00 to $420.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Sherwin-Williams from $405.00 to $385.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a "hold" rating and set a $380.00 price objective (down previously from $423.00) on shares of Sherwin-Williams in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Mizuho set a $395.00 target price on shares of Sherwin-Williams in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Finally, UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Sherwin-Williams from $430.00 to $400.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Sherwin-Williams presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $397.67.

Sherwin-Williams Stock Performance

Shares of Sherwin-Williams stock traded down $20.27 on Friday, hitting $335.93. 2,793,639 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,722,765. Sherwin-Williams has a 1 year low of $292.27 and a 1 year high of $400.42. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $347.71 and a 200-day simple moving average of $352.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.02, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a current ratio of 0.79. The stock has a market capitalization of $84.18 billion, a PE ratio of 31.84, a PEG ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 1.21.

Sherwin-Williams (NYSE:SHW - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The specialty chemicals company reported $2.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.23 by $0.02. Sherwin-Williams had a return on equity of 74.50% and a net margin of 11.61%. The business had revenue of $5.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.42 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.17 earnings per share. Sherwin-Williams's revenue for the quarter was down 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Sherwin-Williams will post 12 EPS for the current year.

Sherwin-Williams Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 16th were given a dividend of $0.79 per share. This represents a $3.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.94%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 16th. Sherwin-Williams's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 29.87%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Sherwin-Williams

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in SHW. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Sherwin-Williams by 1.1% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 22,082,544 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $7,711,004,000 after purchasing an additional 245,896 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in shares of Sherwin-Williams by 21.0% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 8,657,536 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $3,023,126,000 after buying an additional 1,505,341 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of Sherwin-Williams by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,588,755 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $2,239,715,000 after acquiring an additional 106,093 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 96,571 shares during the period. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its stake in Sherwin-Williams by 2.2% in the first quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 4,409,209 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $1,539,652,000 after purchasing an additional 93,209 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 77.67% of the company's stock.

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.