W.W. Grainger (NYSE:GWW) Cut to “Hold” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com lowered shares of W.W. Grainger (NYSE:GWW) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note published on Friday.

Several other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on GWW. Loop Capital downgraded shares of W.W. Grainger from a buy rating to a hold rating and raised their target price for the company from $925.00 to $1,000.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of W.W. Grainger from $740.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research note on Thursday, March 14th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of W.W. Grainger from $809.00 to $907.00 and gave the company a sector perform rating in a research note on Monday, February 5th. Stephens raised their target price on shares of W.W. Grainger from $775.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 6th. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their price objective on shares of W.W. Grainger from $1,075.00 to $1,125.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $913.89.

W.W. Grainger Price Performance

Shares of NYSE GWW opened at $929.26 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $45.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.66, a PEG ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 1.14. The business has a 50-day moving average of $979.95 and a 200-day moving average of $876.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 2.19 and a quick ratio of 1.64. W.W. Grainger has a fifty-two week low of $641.95 and a fifty-two week high of $1,034.18.

W.W. Grainger (NYSE:GWW) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The industrial products company reported $9.62 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $9.57 by $0.05. W.W. Grainger had a return on equity of 54.31% and a net margin of 10.94%. The company had revenue of $4.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.26 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $9.61 EPS. W.W. Grainger’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that W.W. Grainger will post 39.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W.W. Grainger Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 13th will be paid a dividend of $2.05 per share. This represents a $8.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.88%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 10th. This is a positive change from W.W. Grainger’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.86. W.W. Grainger’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 22.64%.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Paige K. Robbins sold 3,813 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $968.88, for a total transaction of $3,694,339.44. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 4,909 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,756,231.92. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, VP Paige K. Robbins sold 3,813 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $968.88, for a total transaction of $3,694,339.44. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 4,909 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,756,231.92. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP Paige K. Robbins sold 3,122 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $950.22, for a total value of $2,966,586.84. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 4,909 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,664,629.98. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 9.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of W.W. Grainger

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. raised its holdings in shares of W.W. Grainger by 6.9% during the 3rd quarter. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. now owns 3,160 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,187,000 after buying an additional 205 shares in the last quarter. Ardevora Asset Management LLP acquired a new position in shares of W.W. Grainger during the 4th quarter worth $11,075,000. Sigma Planning Corp raised its holdings in shares of W.W. Grainger by 23.4% during the 3rd quarter. Sigma Planning Corp now owns 633 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $438,000 after buying an additional 120 shares in the last quarter. US Bancorp DE raised its holdings in shares of W.W. Grainger by 11.3% during the 3rd quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 71,748 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $49,638,000 after buying an additional 7,273 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James & Associates raised its holdings in shares of W.W. Grainger by 12.1% during the 4th quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 82,038 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $67,984,000 after buying an additional 8,865 shares in the last quarter. 80.70% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

W.W. Grainger Company Profile

W.W. Grainger, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, distributes maintenance, repair, and operating products and services primarily in North America, Japan, the United Kingdom, and internationally. The company operates through two segments, High-Touch Solutions N.A. and Endless Assortment. The company provides safety, security, material handling and storage equipment, pumps and plumbing equipment, cleaning and maintenance, and metalworking and hand tools.