W.W. Grainger (NYSE:GWW) Updates FY24 Earnings Guidance

W.W. Grainger (NYSE:GWW) updated its FY24 earnings guidance on Thursday. The company provided earnings per share guidance of $38.00-40.50 for the period, compared to the consensus earnings per share estimate of $39.46. The company issued revenue guidance of $17.2-17.7 billion, compared to the consensus revenue estimate of $17.48 billion. W.W. Grainger also updated its FY 2024 guidance to 38.000-40.500 EPS.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on GWW. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on W.W. Grainger from $800.00 to $925.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 6th. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on 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 lowered W.W. Grainger from a buy rating to a hold rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $925.00 to $1,000.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. UBS Group boosted their price target on W.W. Grainger from $740.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research report on Thursday, March 14th. Finally, Stephens boosted their price target on W.W. Grainger from $775.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, W.W. Grainger presently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $913.89.

W.W. Grainger Trading Down 2.0 %

Shares of W.W. Grainger stock opened at $929.26 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.64, a current ratio of 2.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. The firm has a market cap of $45.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 1.14. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $979.95 and a 200-day simple moving average of $875.13. W.W. Grainger has a fifty-two week low of $641.95 and a fifty-two week high of $1,034.18.

W.W. Grainger (NYSE:GWW) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The industrial products company reported $9.62 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $9.57 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $4.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.26 billion. W.W. Grainger had a return on equity of 54.31% and a net margin of 10.94%. The company’s revenue was up 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $9.61 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that W.W. Grainger will post 39.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W.W. Grainger Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 13th will be issued a dividend of $2.05 per share. This represents a $8.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.88%. This is an increase from W.W. Grainger’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.86. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 10th. W.W. Grainger’s dividend payout ratio is currently 20.54%.

Insider Activity

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