Cottonwood Capital Advisors LLC Has $275,000 Stock Position in W.W. Grainger, Inc. (NYSE:GWW)

Cottonwood Capital Advisors LLC cut its stake in shares of W.W. Grainger, Inc. (NYSE:GWW) by 12.9% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 278 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 41 shares during the quarter. Cottonwood Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in W.W. Grainger were worth $275,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Cyrus J. Lawrence LLC acquired a new stake in W.W. Grainger during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Investment Management Corp VA ADV bought a new position in shares of W.W. Grainger during the 4th quarter worth approximately $35,000. OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new stake in shares of W.W. Grainger during the 4th quarter valued at $42,000. Atala Financial Inc bought a new position in shares of W.W. Grainger during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $43,000. Finally, Quarry LP purchased a new stake in W.W. Grainger in the fourth quarter worth $54,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.70% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GWW has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Wolfe Research cut shares of W.W. Grainger from a “peer perform” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $966.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price objective on W.W. Grainger from $1,097.00 to $1,144.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of W.W. Grainger from $1,100.00 to $1,125.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 27th. Finally, William Blair upgraded shares of W.W. Grainger from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $1,123.13.

W.W. Grainger Trading Down 1.6%

NYSE:GWW opened at $1,024.37 on Thursday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $1,055.65 and a 200-day moving average price of $1,044.43. The stock has a market cap of $49.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.30, a P/E/G ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a current ratio of 2.74, a quick ratio of 1.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. W.W. Grainger, Inc. has a 12 month low of $888.75 and a 12 month high of $1,227.66.

W.W. Grainger (NYSE:GWW) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The industrial products company reported $9.86 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $9.51 by $0.35. W.W. Grainger had a return on equity of 51.28% and a net margin of 11.08%. The firm had revenue of $4.31 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.31 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $9.62 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that W.W. Grainger, Inc. will post 40.3 EPS for the current year.

W.W. Grainger Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 12th were paid a dividend of $2.26 per share. This is an increase from W.W. Grainger’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.05. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 12th. This represents a $9.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.88%. W.W. Grainger’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 23.21%.

Insider Activity at W.W. Grainger

In other news, VP Laurie R. Thomson sold 761 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,042.86, for a total value of $793,616.46. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 578 shares in the company, valued at $602,773.08. The trade was a 56.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, VP Krantz Nancy L. Berardinelli sold 280 shares of W.W. Grainger stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,075.20, for a total value of $301,056.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 3,369 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,622,348.80. The trade was a 7.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 2,205 shares of company stock valued at $2,255,320 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 6.10% of the company’s stock.

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.