Fairscale Capital LLC Purchases New Holdings in W.W. Grainger, Inc. (NYSE:GWW)

Fairscale Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of W.W. Grainger, Inc. (NYSE:GWW) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 85 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $84,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of W.W. Grainger by 10.0% during the first quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 121 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $124,000 after purchasing an additional 11 shares during the last quarter. Optas LLC raised its position in W.W. Grainger by 0.8% during the 2nd quarter. Optas LLC now owns 1,353 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,221,000 after buying an additional 11 shares during the last quarter. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of W.W. Grainger by 2.7% in the 1st quarter. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 463 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $471,000 after acquiring an additional 12 shares during the period. Copperwynd Financial LLC boosted its holdings in shares of W.W. Grainger by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. Copperwynd Financial LLC now owns 347 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $288,000 after acquiring an additional 12 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sage Mountain Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of W.W. Grainger by 4.4% during the second quarter. Sage Mountain Advisors LLC now owns 284 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $256,000 after acquiring an additional 12 shares during the period. 80.70% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on GWW shares. Baird R W downgraded shares of W.W. Grainger from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 29th. Robert W. Baird cut W.W. Grainger from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $1,000.00 to $975.00 in a report on Wednesday, May 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on W.W. Grainger from $1,000.00 to $1,015.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Erste Group Bank reissued a “hold” rating on shares of W.W. Grainger in a report on Friday, June 14th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of W.W. Grainger from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 29th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $1,014.11.

W.W. Grainger Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of GWW opened at $1,032.22 on Monday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $970.23 and its 200 day simple moving average is $956.01. W.W. Grainger, Inc. has a twelve month low of $674.41 and a twelve month high of $1,037.23. The company has a current ratio of 2.30, a quick ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $50.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 1.16.

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

W.W. Grainger Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, September 1st. Investors of record on Monday, August 12th were issued a $2.05 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 12th. This represents a $8.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.79%. W.W. Grainger’s dividend payout ratio is currently 22.64%.

Insider Buying and Selling at W.W. Grainger

In other news, CEO Donald G. Macpherson sold 27,502 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,000.82, for a total value of $27,524,551.64. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 111,559 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $111,650,478.38. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 9.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.