Willis Investment Counsel Buys Shares of 22,429 The Sherwin-Williams Company $SHW

Willis Investment Counsel bought a new stake in The Sherwin-Williams Company (NYSE:SHW) during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 22,429 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,766,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Sherwin-Williams by 1.1% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 22,328,552 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $7,666,732,000 after acquiring an additional 246,008 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Sherwin-Williams by 1.8% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,111,157 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $1,746,222,000 after purchasing an additional 90,482 shares in the last quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main raised its stake in shares of Sherwin-Williams by 9.9% during the 2nd quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 3,887,808 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $1,334,918,000 after buying an additional 351,453 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Sherwin-Williams in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $1,296,565,000. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in shares of Sherwin-Williams by 22.3% in the second quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,039,306 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $1,043,595,000 after buying an additional 553,275 shares in the last quarter. 77.67% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have issued reports on the company. UBS Group set a $420.00 price objective on Sherwin-Williams in a research report on Friday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Sherwin-Williams from $378.00 to $385.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Sherwin-Williams in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Bank of America dropped their target price on shares of Sherwin-Williams from $375.00 to $368.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. Finally, Citigroup reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Sherwin-Williams in a research note on Monday, January 19th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Sherwin-Williams currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $386.33.

Sherwin-Williams Stock Performance

NYSE SHW opened at $364.79 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.03. The Sherwin-Williams Company has a fifty-two week low of $308.84 and a fifty-two week high of $379.65. The business has a fifty day moving average of $339.70 and a 200-day moving average of $344.43. The stock has a market cap of $90.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.19 and a beta of 1.25.

Sherwin-Williams (NYSE:SHW) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 29th. The specialty chemicals company reported $2.23 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.16 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $5.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.57 billion. Sherwin-Williams had a return on equity of 65.26% and a net margin of 10.90%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.09 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that The Sherwin-Williams Company will post 12 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Sherwin-Williams

In other Sherwin-Williams news, insider Colin M. Davie sold 2,976 shares of Sherwin-Williams stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $359.50, for a total value of $1,069,872.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 5,365 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,928,717.50. The trade was a 35.68% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

About Sherwin-Williams

Sherwin-Williams (NYSE: SHW) is a global manufacturer and distributor of paints, coatings and related products. Founded in 1866 and headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, the company supplies a broad range of coatings for residential, commercial and industrial applications. Its product offering includes architectural paints and stains, industrial and protective coatings, automotive finishes, and a variety of sundry products such as primers, sealants and specialty treatments used by professionals and consumers.

The company sells through multiple channels, including a large network of company-operated retail paint stores that serve professional contractors and do-it-yourself consumers, as well as through distributors and mass retailers.