The Sherwin-Williams Company Plans Quarterly Dividend of $0.72 (NYSE:SHW)

The Sherwin-Williams Company (NYSE:SHW) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, April 17th, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Friday, May 17th will be paid a dividend of 0.715 per share by the specialty chemicals company on Friday, June 7th. This represents a $2.86 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.92%.

Sherwin-Williams has increased its dividend by an average of 10.6% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 47 consecutive years. Sherwin-Williams has a dividend payout ratio of 22.3% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Sherwin-Williams to earn $12.77 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.86 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 22.4%.

Sherwin-Williams Stock Up 0.5 %

Sherwin-Williams stock traded up $1.46 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $309.84. The stock had a trading volume of 780,949 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,393,104. The company has a market capitalization of $78.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.34, a PEG ratio of 2.49 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $328.69 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $296.82. Sherwin-Williams has a one year low of $221.76 and a one year high of $348.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.25, a current ratio of 0.83 and a quick ratio of 0.48.

Sherwin-Williams (NYSE:SHW) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.80 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $5.25 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.23 billion. Sherwin-Williams had a net margin of 10.36% and a return on equity of 74.72%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.89 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Sherwin-Williams will post 11.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Sherwin-Williams

In other news, insider Justin T. Binns sold 1,563 shares of Sherwin-Williams stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $338.87, for a total transaction of $529,653.81. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 14,564 shares in the company, valued at $4,935,302.68. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, insider Justin T. Binns sold 1,563 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $338.87, for a total transaction of $529,653.81. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 14,564 shares in the company, valued at $4,935,302.68. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Gregory P. Sofish sold 1,830 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $320.70, for a total value of $586,881.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 6,329 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,029,710.30. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 32,050 shares of company stock worth $10,340,237. 0.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Sherwin-Williams

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Sherwin-Williams by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,435,960 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $6,685,876,000 after purchasing an additional 179,274 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted its holdings in shares of Sherwin-Williams by 50.9% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 5,180,068 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $1,229,386,000 after purchasing an additional 1,747,586 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Sherwin-Williams by 1.8% during the first quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,179,547 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $936,902,000 after purchasing an additional 73,605 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Sherwin-Williams by 13.0% during the second quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,795,775 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $742,334,000 after purchasing an additional 321,529 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Sherwin-Williams during the fourth quarter worth about $498,336,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.67% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have issued reports on SHW. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Sherwin-Williams from $285.00 to $317.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Evercore ISI cut their price objective on shares of Sherwin-Williams from $385.00 to $380.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. Mizuho cut their price objective on shares of Sherwin-Williams from $352.00 to $340.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 26th. Robert W. Baird reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $300.00 target price (up from $270.00) on shares of Sherwin-Williams in a research report on Wednesday, January 3rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Sherwin-Williams from $310.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Sherwin-Williams currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $325.94.

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.