Vanguard Group Inc. Decreases Stock Holdings in W.W. Grainger, Inc. (NYSE:GWW)

Vanguard Group Inc. lowered its stake in shares of W.W. Grainger, Inc. (NYSE:GWW) by 0.5% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 5,238,806 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 25,213 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 0.11% of W.W. Grainger worth $5,329,437,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bfsg LLC purchased a new stake in W.W. Grainger during the first quarter worth about $26,000. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of W.W. Grainger by 170.0% in the first quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 27 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 17 shares in the last quarter. Scarborough Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of W.W. Grainger in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of W.W. Grainger in the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. Finally, Washington Trust Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of W.W. Grainger by 225.0% in the first quarter. Washington Trust Advisors Inc. now owns 39 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 27 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.70% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Matt Fortin sold 511 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $915.20, for a total transaction of $467,667.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 1,848 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,691,289.60. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 9.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GWW has been the topic of several recent research reports. Stephens raised shares of W.W. Grainger from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the company from $1,000.00 to $1,250.00 in a report on Monday, April 29th. Baird R W downgraded shares of W.W. Grainger from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 29th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of W.W. Grainger from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 29th. Erste Group Bank reissued a “hold” rating on shares of W.W. Grainger in a research report on Friday, June 14th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lowered shares of W.W. Grainger from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $1,000.00 to $975.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, W.W. Grainger has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $959.44.

W.W. Grainger Trading Down 1.2 %

GWW stock traded down $11.53 on Friday, hitting $945.83. 192,273 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 267,335. W.W. Grainger, Inc. has a twelve month low of $674.41 and a twelve month high of $1,034.18. 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 business’s fifty day moving average is $924.44 and its two-hundred day moving average is $936.34. The stock has a market capitalization of $46.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.17.

W.W. Grainger (NYSE:GWW) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The industrial products company reported $9.62 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $9.57 by $0.05. W.W. Grainger had a net margin of 10.94% and a return on equity of 54.31%. The firm had revenue of $4.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.26 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $9.61 earnings per share. W.W. Grainger’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that W.W. Grainger, Inc. will post 39.19 earnings per share for the current year.

W.W. Grainger Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, June 1st. Investors of record on Monday, May 13th were given a dividend of $2.05 per share. This is a positive change from W.W. Grainger’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.86. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 10th. This represents a $8.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.87%. W.W. Grainger’s dividend payout ratio is 22.64%.

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.