Sherwin-Williams Company (SHW): Insiders Aren’t Crazy About It But Hedge Funds Love It

What’s a smart Sherwin-Williams Company (NYSE:SHW) investor to do?

At the moment, there are tons of indicators market participants can use to analyze stocks. Two of the most innovative are hedge fund and insider trading movement. At Insider Monkey, our studies have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the best money managers can beat the S&P 500 by a significant amount (see just how much).

Equally as necessary, bullish insider trading activity is a second way to analyze the world of equities. There are lots of reasons for an upper level exec to cut shares of his or her company, but just one, very clear reason why they would behave bullishly. Several empirical studies have demonstrated the useful potential of this method if investors know where to look (learn more here).

Furthermore, we’re going to discuss the recent info for Sherwin-Williams Company (NYSE:SHW).

What does the smart money think about Sherwin-Williams Company (NYSE:SHW)?

At Q2’s end, a total of 34 of the hedge funds we track were long in this stock, a change of 6% from the previous quarter. With hedge funds’ positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists a select group of key hedge fund managers who were boosting their stakes substantially.

Out of the hedge funds we follow, Robert Joseph Caruso’s Select Equity Group had the biggest position in Sherwin-Williams Company (NYSE:SHW), worth close to $229.6 million, comprising 3.2% of its total 13F portfolio. On Select Equity Group’s heels is Renaissance Technologies, managed by Jim Simons, which held a $161.3 million position; 0.4% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Some other hedge funds that hold long positions include Richard Chilton’s Chilton Investment Company, Steven Cohen’s SAC Capital Advisors and Donald Chiboucis’s Columbus Circle Investors.

As aggregate interest spiked, specific money managers were breaking ground themselves. Select Equity Group, managed by Robert Joseph Caruso, created the most valuable position in Sherwin-Williams Company (NYSE:SHW). Select Equity Group had 229.6 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies also made a $161.3 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The other funds with new positions in the stock are Richard Chilton’s Chilton Investment Company, Steven Cohen’s SAC Capital Advisors, and Donald Chiboucis’s Columbus Circle Investors.

Insider trading activity in Sherwin-Williams Company (NYSE:SHW)

Bullish insider trading is particularly usable when the company we’re looking at has experienced transactions within the past half-year. Over the latest six-month time period, Sherwin-Williams Company (NYSE:SHW) has experienced zero unique insiders purchasing, and 7 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

We’ll go over the relationship between both of these indicators in other stocks similar to Sherwin-Williams Company (NYSE:SHW). These stocks are Westlake Chemical Corporation (NYSE:WLK), LyondellBasell Industries NV (NYSE:LYB), Sigma-Aldrich Corporation (NASDAQ:SIAL), Williams Partners L.P. (NYSE:WPZ), and PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG). This group of stocks are the members of the specialty chemicals industry and their market caps are similar to SHW’s market cap.