W.W. Grainger (NYSE:GWW) Raised to Overweight at Stephens

Stephens upgraded shares of W.W. Grainger (NYSE:GWW) from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating in a report released on Monday morning, Marketbeat.com reports. The brokerage currently has $1,250.00 price target on the industrial products company’s stock, up from their previous price target of $1,000.00.

A number of other research firms also recently issued reports on GWW. Oppenheimer increased their target price on shares of W.W. Grainger from $1,075.00 to $1,125.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 5th. Loop Capital downgraded shares of W.W. Grainger from a buy rating to a hold rating and increased their target price for the stock from $925.00 to $1,000.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of W.W. Grainger from $809.00 to $907.00 and gave the stock a sector perform rating in a research report on Monday, February 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of W.W. Grainger from $800.00 to $925.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 6th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of W.W. Grainger from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $938.89.

W.W. Grainger Trading Down 0.1 %

NYSE GWW opened at $920.30 on Monday. W.W. Grainger has a 12 month low of $641.95 and a 12 month high of $1,034.18. The company has a 50-day moving average of $979.63 and a 200-day moving average of $879.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 2.19 and a quick ratio of 1.33. The company has a market cap of $45.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.41, a P/E/G ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 1.14.

W.W. Grainger (NYSE:GWW) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The industrial products company reported $9.62 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $9.57 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $4.24 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.26 billion. W.W. Grainger had a net margin of 10.94% and a return on equity of 54.31%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $9.61 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that W.W. Grainger will post 39.27 earnings per share for the current year.

W.W. Grainger Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 13th will be given a dividend of $2.05 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 10th. This represents a $8.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.89%. This is an increase from W.W. Grainger’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.86. W.W. Grainger’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.54%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other W.W. Grainger news, VP Paige K. Robbins sold 3,813 shares of W.W. Grainger stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $968.88, for a total value of $3,694,339.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 4,909 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,756,231.92. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other W.W. Grainger news, VP Paige K. Robbins sold 3,813 shares of W.W. Grainger stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $968.88, for a total value of $3,694,339.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 4,909 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,756,231.92. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP Paige K. Robbins sold 3,122 shares of W.W. Grainger stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $950.22, for a total transaction of $2,966,586.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 4,909 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,664,629.98. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 9.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On W.W. Grainger

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of W.W. Grainger during the fourth quarter valued at $392,470,000. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in shares of W.W. Grainger by 17.2% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,396,928 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $966,451,000 after acquiring an additional 204,507 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley boosted its holdings in shares of W.W. Grainger by 8.3% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 625,013 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $432,411,000 after acquiring an additional 47,731 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of W.W. Grainger by 82,775.0% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 43,095 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $35,712,000 after acquiring an additional 43,043 shares during the period. Finally, FIL Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of W.W. Grainger by 21.4% during the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 240,856 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $199,595,000 after acquiring an additional 42,395 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.70% 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.