Inspire Advisors LLC Has $280,000 Holdings in The Sherwin-Williams Company (NYSE:SHW)

Inspire Advisors LLC lessened its stake in The Sherwin-Williams Company (NYSE:SHW) by 5.0% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 823 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 43 shares during the quarter. Inspire Advisors LLC’s holdings in Sherwin-Williams were worth $280,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in SHW. King Luther Capital Management Corp lifted its position in shares of Sherwin-Williams by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp now owns 253,292 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $86,102,000 after purchasing an additional 5,486 shares in the last quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI lifted its position in shares of Sherwin-Williams by 35.8% in the fourth quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 5,668 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $1,927,000 after purchasing an additional 1,495 shares in the last quarter. Sage Mountain Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Sherwin-Williams by 5.9% in the fourth quarter. Sage Mountain Advisors LLC now owns 1,412 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $480,000 after purchasing an additional 79 shares in the last quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance lifted its position in shares of Sherwin-Williams by 11.8% in the fourth quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 13,296 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $4,520,000 after purchasing an additional 1,402 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Sherwin-Williams by 259.6% in the fourth quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 105,772 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $35,955,000 after purchasing an additional 76,361 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.67% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently commented on SHW shares. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on shares of Sherwin-Williams from $438.00 to $415.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Zelman & Associates raised shares of Sherwin-Williams to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Sherwin-Williams from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 28th. Citigroup restated a “buy” rating and set a $423.00 target price (up from $418.00) on shares of Sherwin-Williams in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Sherwin-Williams from $450.00 to $405.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Sherwin-Williams currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $401.13.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Colin M. Davie sold 2,799 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $360.30, for a total transaction of $1,008,479.70. Following the sale, the insider now owns 5,365 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,933,009.50. This represents a 34.28 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Sherwin-Williams Trading Down 0.8 %

SHW stock opened at $350.21 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.02, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.46. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $353.57 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $365.85. The Sherwin-Williams Company has a one year low of $282.09 and a one year high of $400.42. The stock has a market cap of $88.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 1.23.

Sherwin-Williams (NYSE:SHW) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The specialty chemicals company reported $2.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.07 by $0.02. Sherwin-Williams had a net margin of 11.61% and a return on equity of 74.50%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.81 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that The Sherwin-Williams Company will post 12 EPS for the current year.

Sherwin-Williams Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.79 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 3rd. This is a boost from Sherwin-Williams’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. This represents a $3.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.90%. Sherwin-Williams’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 29.95%.

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.