Wealth Alliance Has $828,000 Holdings in W.W. Grainger, Inc. (NYSE:GWW)

Wealth Alliance lessened its stake in W.W. Grainger, Inc. (NYSE:GWW) by 16.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 918 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 181 shares during the quarter. Wealth Alliance’s holdings in W.W. Grainger were worth $828,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GWW. Brown Advisory Inc. boosted its stake in shares of W.W. Grainger by 4.8% in the 4th quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 5,224 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $4,329,000 after purchasing an additional 238 shares during the last quarter. UBS Group AG boosted its stake in shares of W.W. Grainger by 6.0% in the 4th quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 108,933 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $90,272,000 after purchasing an additional 6,197 shares during the last quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of W.W. Grainger by 11.6% in the 4th quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 625 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $518,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC boosted its stake in shares of W.W. Grainger by 75.5% in the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 43,087 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $35,706,000 after purchasing an additional 18,542 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Aigen Investment Management LP bought a new position in shares of W.W. Grainger in the 4th quarter valued at about $888,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.70% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on GWW shares. StockNews.com lowered shares of W.W. Grainger from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 29th. Robert W. Baird lowered shares of W.W. Grainger from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $1,000.00 to $975.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 29th. Baird R W lowered shares of W.W. Grainger from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 29th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on shares of W.W. Grainger from $978.00 to $972.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Erste Group Bank reissued a “hold” rating on shares of W.W. Grainger in a research note on Friday, June 14th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, W.W. Grainger currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $1,014.11.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Donald G. Macpherson sold 27,502 shares of W.W. Grainger stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,000.82, for a total value of $27,524,551.64. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 111,559 shares in the company, valued at $111,650,478.38. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 9.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

W.W. Grainger Stock Performance

Shares of GWW stock opened at $1,012.63 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 1.40 and a current ratio of 2.30. The company has a market capitalization of $49.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 1.16. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $963.24 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $955.18. W.W. Grainger, Inc. has a 52 week low of $674.41 and a 52 week high of $1,034.18.

W.W. Grainger (NYSE:GWW) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The industrial products company reported $9.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $9.58 by $0.18. W.W. Grainger had a net margin of 10.86% and a return on equity of 53.25%. The company had revenue of $4.31 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.35 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $9.28 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 3.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that W.W. Grainger, Inc. will post 38.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W.W. Grainger Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 12th were issued a $2.05 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 12th. This represents a $8.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.81%. W.W. Grainger’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 22.64%.

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.