Pittenger & Anderson Inc. Has $8.55 Million Position in The Sherwin-Williams Company (NYSE:SHW)

Pittenger & Anderson Inc. raised its position in shares of The Sherwin-Williams Company (NYSE:SHW - Free Report) by 5.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 25,164 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock after acquiring an additional 1,202 shares during the period. Pittenger & Anderson Inc.'s holdings in Sherwin-Williams were worth $8,554,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Merit Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Sherwin-Williams by 80.0% during the fourth quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 1,177 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $400,000 after purchasing an additional 523 shares in the last quarter. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV lifted its stake in shares of Sherwin-Williams by 13.0% during the third quarter. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV now owns 1,818 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $694,000 after purchasing an additional 209 shares in the last quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC lifted its stake in shares of Sherwin-Williams by 52.6% during the fourth quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 6,680 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $2,271,000 after purchasing an additional 2,303 shares in the last quarter. Kerusso Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Sherwin-Williams by 75.9% in the fourth quarter. Kerusso Capital Management LLC now owns 10,290 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $3,498,000 after acquiring an additional 4,439 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Burney Co. lifted its stake in shares of Sherwin-Williams by 4.6% in the fourth quarter. Burney Co. now owns 17,272 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $5,871,000 after acquiring an additional 766 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.67% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SHW has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Berenberg Bank upgraded Sherwin-Williams from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $321.00 to $420.00 in a research note on Friday, January 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Sherwin-Williams from $370.00 to $390.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on Sherwin-Williams from $400.00 to $420.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Sherwin-Williams from $355.00 to $370.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Zelman & Associates raised Sherwin-Williams to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Sherwin-Williams presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $400.00.

Sherwin-Williams Stock Performance

SHW stock traded down $2.00 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $349.85. 2,041,689 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,619,690. The company has a quick ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.02. The Sherwin-Williams Company has a 52 week low of $282.09 and a 52 week high of $400.42. The business has a 50-day moving average of $351.78 and a two-hundred day moving average of $365.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $88.11 billion, a PE ratio of 33.16, a P/E/G ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 1.22.

Sherwin-Williams (NYSE:SHW - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The specialty chemicals company reported $2.09 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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. As a group, equities analysts predict that The Sherwin-Williams Company will post 12 EPS for the current fiscal 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 paid a $0.79 dividend. This represents a $3.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.90%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 3rd. This is a boost from Sherwin-Williams's previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. Sherwin-Williams's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 27.11%.

Insider Activity at Sherwin-Williams

In other Sherwin-Williams news, SVP Mary L. Garceau sold 15,770 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $397.92, for a total transaction of $6,275,198.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 29,205 shares in the company, valued at $11,621,253.60. This trade represents a 35.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About Sherwin-Williams

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.