The color picker window stays open if the Eye Dropper tool selects color from anywhere other than the viewport. The color is captured in the color picker before it closes, but makes it a nightmare to open back up if a user picked the wrong color.
The color picker closes because when selecting a color in the viewport, it selects the object and therefore changes the detail panel to the selected object. Because the color picker was opened from the details panel it closes.
A possible fix could be disabling the ability to select anything in the editor while the color picker is active
This happens in 4.15.1 so this is not a regression
Result: New color is set but the Color Picker window closes
Expected Results: New color is set and the Color Picker window stays open.
There's no existing public thread on this issue, so head over to Questions & Answers just mention UE-43959 in the post.