The company raised its third-quarter and full-year guidance
The shares of Sherwin-Williams Co (NYSE:SHW) are flat today, trading at $705.21 at last check, brushing off a slew of bull notes after the company raised its third-quarter and full-year guidance. No fewer than three analysts raised their price targets on the adjusted forecast, the highest coming from Deutsche Bank to $785 from $700.
SHW has been rejected by the $715 level for the past couple days, as the stock struggles to reclaim its Sept. 15 record high of $725.91. Down at $696.30 at its session low, today's pullback was caught by the 10- and 20-day moving averages. Year-to-date, the equity is up 20.8%.
Analysts are split on SHW, with 10 out of 19 at a "buy" or better rating, and the remaining nine at a "hold" or worse. Meanwhile, the 12-month consensus price target of $713 is just a 1.1% premium to current levels. In other words, today's bull notes could be just the beginning.
Meanwhile, calls have been popular in the options pits. This is per SHW's 50-day call/put volume ratio of 1.87 at the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Cboe Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX). This ratio stands higher than 87% of readings from the past year, meaning calls are being picked up at a faster-than-usual rate.
Today, however, puts are in favor. So far, 912 puts and 824 calls have crossed the tape, with puts running at double what's typically seen at this point. Most popular is the March 840 call, where new positions are being opened, followed by the peak open interest position, the October 650 put.