Victory Capital Management Inc. Sells 6,399 Shares of The Sherwin-Williams Company (NYSE:SHW)

Victory Capital Management Inc. lowered its position in The Sherwin-Williams Company (NYSE:SHW) by 6.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 97,193 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 6,399 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Sherwin-Williams were worth $33,039,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Merit Financial Group LLC raised its position in shares of Sherwin-Williams by 80.0% in the 4th quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 1,177 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $400,000 after acquiring an additional 523 shares in the last quarter. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV increased its position in Sherwin-Williams by 13.0% during the 3rd quarter. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV now owns 1,818 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $694,000 after buying an additional 209 shares in the last quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC increased its position in Sherwin-Williams by 52.6% during the 4th quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 6,680 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $2,271,000 after buying an additional 2,303 shares in the last quarter. Burney Co. increased its position in Sherwin-Williams by 4.6% during the 4th quarter. Burney Co. now owns 17,272 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $5,871,000 after buying an additional 766 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kerusso Capital Management LLC increased its position in Sherwin-Williams by 75.9% during the 4th quarter. Kerusso Capital Management LLC now owns 10,290 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $3,498,000 after buying an additional 4,439 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 77.67% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently weighed in on SHW. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Sherwin-Williams from $370.00 to $390.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Berenberg Bank raised Sherwin-Williams from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $321.00 to $420.00 in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Citigroup reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $423.00 price objective (up previously from $418.00) on shares of Sherwin-Williams in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Sherwin-Williams from $450.00 to $405.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Sherwin-Williams from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Sherwin-Williams has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $403.31.

Sherwin-Williams Stock Performance

SHW stock opened at $363.99 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $91.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 1.23. The Sherwin-Williams Company has a 1 year low of $282.09 and a 1 year high of $400.42. 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 stock’s fifty day moving average price is $352.70 and its 200-day moving average price is $365.99.

Sherwin-Williams (NYSE:SHW) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The specialty chemicals company reported $2.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.07 by $0.02. Sherwin-Williams had a return on equity of 74.50% and a net margin of 11.61%. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.81 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that The Sherwin-Williams Company will post 12 earnings per share for the current year.

Sherwin-Williams Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.79 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 3rd. This is an increase from Sherwin-Williams’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. This represents a $3.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.87%. Sherwin-Williams’s payout ratio is 29.95%.

Insider Activity at Sherwin-Williams

In related news, insider Colin M. Davie sold 2,799 shares of Sherwin-Williams stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 5,365 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,933,009.50. The trade was a 34.28 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Sherwin-Williams 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.