Empirical Finance LLC Grows Stake in The Sherwin-Williams Company (NYSE:SHW)

Empirical Finance LLC grew its holdings in The Sherwin-Williams Company (NYSE:SHW) by 3.4% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 8,604 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after buying an additional 286 shares during the quarter. Empirical Finance LLC’s holdings in Sherwin-Williams were worth $2,988,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of SHW. Alps Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Sherwin-Williams in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $314,000. Creative Planning lifted its stake in shares of Sherwin-Williams by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 36,320 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $9,263,000 after purchasing an additional 220 shares during the period. Diversified Trust Co lifted its stake in shares of Sherwin-Williams by 46.5% in the 3rd quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 4,593 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $1,171,000 after purchasing an additional 1,458 shares during the period. Tompkins Financial Corp lifted its stake in shares of Sherwin-Williams by 1,533.3% in the 3rd quarter. Tompkins Financial Corp now owns 147 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 138 shares during the period. Finally, Comerica Bank lifted its stake in shares of Sherwin-Williams by 37.5% in the 3rd quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 140,803 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $35,912,000 after purchasing an additional 38,391 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.67% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SHW has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Sherwin-Williams from $317.00 to $315.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Loop Capital lowered their target price on Sherwin-Williams from $395.00 to $380.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on Sherwin-Williams from $360.00 to $365.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 14th. KeyCorp raised Sherwin-Williams from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $400.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price objective on Sherwin-Williams from $385.00 to $355.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $340.65.

Sherwin-Williams Stock Up 1.4 %

Shares of Sherwin-Williams stock traded up $4.40 on Friday, reaching $318.37. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,491,902 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,574,967. The company has a market capitalization of $80.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.49, a P/E/G ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 1.16. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $304.27 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $312.93. The Sherwin-Williams Company has a 52 week low of $232.06 and a 52 week high of $348.37. The company has a quick ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.32.

Sherwin-Williams (NYSE:SHW) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The specialty chemicals company reported $2.17 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.22 by ($0.05). The firm had revenue of $5.37 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.50 billion. Sherwin-Williams had a return on equity of 73.74% and a net margin of 10.52%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 1.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.04 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that The Sherwin-Williams Company will post 11.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Sherwin-Williams Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 17th were paid a $0.715 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $2.86 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.90%. Sherwin-Williams’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 30.49%.

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.