Teacher Retirement System of Texas Cuts Stock Holdings in The Sherwin-Williams Company (NYSE:SHW)

Teacher Retirement System of Texas lessened its position in The Sherwin-Williams Company (NYSE:SHW) by 7.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 212,920 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 17,917 shares during the quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas’ holdings in Sherwin-Williams were worth $72,378,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in SHW. Midwest Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Sherwin-Williams in the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. FSA Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Sherwin-Williams during the third quarter worth $32,000. Sierra Ocean LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Sherwin-Williams in the fourth quarter valued at about $36,000. True Wealth Design LLC lifted its stake in shares of Sherwin-Williams by 1,000.0% in the third quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 99 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 90 shares in the last quarter. Finally, WR Wealth Planners LLC boosted its position in Sherwin-Williams by 41.7% during the fourth quarter. WR Wealth Planners LLC now owns 119 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 35 shares during the last quarter. 77.67% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. Berenberg Bank upgraded shares of Sherwin-Williams from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $321.00 to $420.00 in a report on Friday, January 24th. Robert W. Baird set a $370.00 price target on Sherwin-Williams in a report on Friday, January 31st. StockNews.com lowered Sherwin-Williams from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 28th. Mizuho cut their target price on Sherwin-Williams from $435.00 to $408.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Sherwin-Williams from $370.00 to $390.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $401.13.

Insider Activity at Sherwin-Williams

In other Sherwin-Williams news, insider Colin M. Davie sold 2,799 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $360.30, for a total value 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 trade represents a 34.28 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Sherwin-Williams Stock Performance

Shares of Sherwin-Williams stock opened at $334.56 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 stock has a market capitalization of $84.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 1.23. The business has a 50-day moving average of $353.91 and a 200 day moving average of $365.04. The Sherwin-Williams Company has a 12 month low of $282.09 and a 12 month high of $400.42.

Sherwin-Williams (NYSE:SHW) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The specialty chemicals company reported $2.09 earnings per share 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 company earned $1.81 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side 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 disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were paid a $0.79 dividend. 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 0.94%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. Sherwin-Williams’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 29.95%.

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.