W.W. Grainger, Inc. (NYSE:GWW) Receives Consensus Rating of “Hold” from Brokerages

Shares of W.W. Grainger, Inc. (NYSE:GWW) have been assigned an average rating of “Hold” from the fourteen research firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, ten have assigned a hold recommendation, two have given a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $1,109.00.

Several brokerages have recently commented on GWW. Oppenheimer downgraded shares of W.W. Grainger from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on W.W. Grainger from $1,018.00 to $1,125.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. StockNews.com upgraded W.W. Grainger from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Wolfe Research raised shares of W.W. Grainger to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, September 22nd. Finally, Baird R W raised shares of W.W. Grainger from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th.

Insider Activity at W.W. Grainger

In other W.W. Grainger news, VP Laurie R. Thomson sold 125 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,206.03, for a total transaction of $150,753.75. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 675 shares in the company, valued at approximately $814,070.25. The trade was a 15.63 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Deidra C. Merriwether sold 704 shares of W.W. Grainger stock in a transaction on Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,105.59, for a total value of $778,335.36. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 9,509 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,513,055.31. The trade was a 6.89 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 50,900 shares of company stock valued at $52,640,733 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 9.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Avestar Capital LLC raised its position in shares of W.W. Grainger by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Avestar Capital LLC now owns 467 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $485,000 after acquiring an additional 9 shares in the last quarter. Optas LLC raised its holdings in W.W. Grainger by 0.8% in the second quarter. Optas LLC now owns 1,353 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,221,000 after purchasing an additional 11 shares in the last quarter. CX Institutional lifted its position in shares of W.W. Grainger by 0.9% during the third quarter. CX Institutional now owns 1,191 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,237,000 after buying an additional 11 shares during the last quarter. Virtue Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of W.W. Grainger by 5.2% in the 3rd quarter. Virtue Capital Management LLC now owns 223 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $232,000 after buying an additional 11 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sage Mountain Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of W.W. Grainger by 4.4% in the 2nd quarter. Sage Mountain Advisors LLC now owns 284 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $256,000 after buying an additional 12 shares during the last quarter. 80.70% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

W.W. Grainger Price Performance

GWW stock opened at $1,206.65 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $58.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.71, a P/E/G ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 1.15. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $1,098.38 and its 200 day moving average is $996.92. W.W. Grainger has a 52 week low of $772.13 and a 52 week high of $1,227.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 1.68 and a current ratio of 2.59.

W.W. Grainger (NYSE:GWW) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The industrial products company reported $9.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $9.98 by ($0.11). W.W. Grainger had a return on equity of 51.78% and a net margin of 10.80%. The company had revenue of $4.39 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.40 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $9.43 earnings per share. W.W. Grainger’s revenue was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that W.W. Grainger will post 38.92 earnings per share for the current year.

W.W. Grainger Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 11th will be paid a $2.05 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 8th. This represents a $8.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.68%. W.W. Grainger’s dividend payout ratio is presently 22.23%.

About W.W. Grainger

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.