W.W. Grainger (NYSE:GWW) Price Target Raised to $1,375.00

W.W. Grainger (NYSE:GWW) had its target price upped by Oppenheimer from $1,350.00 to $1,375.00 in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. Oppenheimer currently has an outperform rating on the industrial products company’s stock.

GWW has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Barclays dropped their price objective on W.W. Grainger from $1,171.00 to $1,166.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, June 23rd. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their target price on W.W. Grainger from $1,460.00 to $1,428.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. DA Davidson assumed coverage on shares of W.W. Grainger in a research report on Tuesday, June 16th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $1,250.00 price target on the stock. Weiss Ratings raised shares of W.W. Grainger from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Friday, July 17th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price objective on shares of W.W. Grainger from $1,052.00 to $1,125.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $1,271.75.

W.W. Grainger Trading Down 0.4%

Shares of NYSE:GWW opened at $1,277.63 on Wednesday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $1,342.22 and a 200-day moving average of $1,212.25. The company has a current ratio of 2.81, a quick ratio of 1.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. The firm has a market cap of $60.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.58, a P/E/G ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 1.04. W.W. Grainger has a twelve month low of $906.52 and a twelve month high of $1,419.91.

W.W. Grainger (NYSE:GWW) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 4th. The industrial products company reported $12.01 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $11.30 by $0.71. W.W. Grainger had a net margin of 9.92% and a return on equity of 48.73%. The business had revenue of $5.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.96 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $9.97 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.3% on a year-over-year basis. W.W. Grainger has set its FY 2026 guidance at 45.500-47.250 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that W.W. Grainger will post 46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W.W. Grainger Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 10th will be paid a dividend of $2.49 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 10th. This represents a $9.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. W.W. Grainger’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 26.79%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Jonny M. Leroy sold 854 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,231.06, for a total transaction of $1,051,325.24. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 1,554 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,913,067.24. The trade was a 35.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, VP Laurie R. Thomson sold 313 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,231.69, for a total value of $385,518.97. Following the sale, the vice president directly owned 399 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $491,444.31. This represents a 43.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 2,624 shares of company stock worth $3,232,291 in the last three months. 6.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Brighton Jones LLC grew its position in W.W. Grainger by 46.8% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 320 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $338,000 after purchasing an additional 102 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its holdings in shares of W.W. Grainger by 18.0% in the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 2,851 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $2,816,000 after purchasing an additional 435 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its position in shares of W.W. Grainger by 169.6% in the second quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 3,826 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $3,980,000 after buying an additional 2,407 shares during the period. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL acquired a new stake in shares of W.W. Grainger in the second quarter worth $208,000. Finally, Sei Investments Co. grew its holdings in shares of W.W. Grainger by 35.2% during the second quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 41,388 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $43,051,000 after buying an additional 10,784 shares in the last quarter. 80.70% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About W.W. Grainger

W.W. Grainger, Inc (NYSE: GWW) is an industrial supply distributor founded in 1927 and headquartered in Lake Forest, Illinois. The company supplies maintenance, repair and operations (MRO) products and services to businesses, institutions and government customers. Over its long history Grainger has developed a broad product assortment and a national distribution network that supports operations across a range of end markets, including manufacturing, healthcare, hospitality, transportation and public sector organizations.

Grainger’s product portfolio spans core categories such as electrical and lighting, safety and personal protective equipment, material handling, motors and power transmission, plumbing and HVAC, fasteners and adhesives, hand and power tools, and janitorial and facility supplies.