W.W. Grainger, Inc. to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $2.05 (NYSE:GWW)

W.W. Grainger, Inc. (NYSE:GWW) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, January 29th,RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th will be given a dividend of 2.05 per share by the industrial products company on Saturday, March 1st. This represents a $8.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.74%.

W.W. Grainger has increased its dividend payment by an average of 7.8% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 35 consecutive years. W.W. Grainger has a payout ratio of 17.7% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect W.W. Grainger to earn $41.91 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $8.20 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 19.6%.

W.W. Grainger Stock Performance

W.W. Grainger stock traded down $17.40 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $1,113.89. 257,217 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 278,467. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 1.68 and a current ratio of 2.59. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $1,124.04 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $1,063.09. The firm has a market cap of $54.25 billion, a PE ratio of 30.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 1.18. W.W. Grainger has a twelve month low of $874.98 and a twelve month high of $1,227.66.

W.W. Grainger (NYSE:GWW) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The industrial products company reported $9.87 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $9.98 by ($0.11). The business had revenue of $4.39 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.40 billion. W.W. Grainger had a net margin of 10.80% and a return on equity of 51.78%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $9.43 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that W.W. Grainger will post 38.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Laurie R. Thomson sold 125 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,206.03, for a total value of $150,753.75. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 675 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $814,070.25. The trade was a 15.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Deidra C. Merriwether sold 704 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,105.59, for a total value of $778,335.36. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 9,509 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,513,055.31. This represents a 6.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 10,406 shares of company stock worth $11,634,643. 9.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on GWW shares. Bank of America began coverage on W.W. Grainger in a research report on Monday, October 7th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $925.00 price objective for the company. Northcoast Research began coverage on W.W. Grainger in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. They set a “neutral” rating on the stock. Robert W. Baird upgraded W.W. Grainger from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $975.00 to $1,230.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Baird R W upgraded W.W. Grainger from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Oppenheimer cut W.W. Grainger from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, W.W. Grainger currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $1,140.56.

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.