W.W. Grainger, Inc. (NYSE:GWW) Stake Reduced by OLD National Bancorp IN

OLD National Bancorp IN reduced its stake in shares of W.W. Grainger, Inc. (NYSE:GWW) by 2.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 4,247 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 122 shares during the quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN’s holdings in W.W. Grainger were worth $3,519,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. FMR LLC grew its stake in W.W. Grainger by 17.2% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,396,928 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $966,451,000 after buying an additional 204,507 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in shares of W.W. Grainger by 1.8% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 751,855 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $520,163,000 after purchasing an additional 13,063 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley grew its stake in shares of W.W. Grainger by 8.3% in the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 625,013 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $432,411,000 after purchasing an additional 47,731 shares in the last quarter. Stifel Financial Corp grew its stake in shares of W.W. Grainger by 1.9% in the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 455,969 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $315,478,000 after purchasing an additional 8,366 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of W.W. Grainger by 0.5% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 260,210 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $180,024,000 after purchasing an additional 1,371 shares in the last quarter. 80.70% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently issued reports on GWW. Stephens increased 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 note on Tuesday, February 6th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on W.W. Grainger from $809.00 to $907.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 5th. UBS Group increased their price target on W.W. Grainger from $740.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 14th. Loop Capital cut W.W. Grainger from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and raised their target price for the company from $925.00 to $1,000.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their target price on W.W. Grainger from $1,075.00 to $1,125.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $913.89.

W.W. Grainger Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of GWW stock opened at $942.07 on Tuesday. W.W. Grainger, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $641.95 and a fifty-two week high of $1,034.18. The stock has a market capitalization of $46.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.02, a P/E/G ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a quick ratio of 1.64, a current ratio of 2.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $979.33 and a 200 day simple moving average of $869.76.

W.W. Grainger (NYSE:GWW) last announced its earnings results on Friday, February 2nd. The industrial products company reported $8.33 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $8.05 by $0.28. W.W. Grainger had a return on equity of 56.54% and a net margin of 11.10%. The business had revenue of $4 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.04 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $7.14 earnings per share. W.W. Grainger’s revenue was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that W.W. Grainger, Inc. will post 39.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W.W. Grainger Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 1st. Investors of record on Monday, February 12th were paid a $1.86 dividend. This represents a $7.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.79%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 9th. W.W. Grainger’s dividend payout ratio is currently 20.55%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Paige K. Robbins sold 3,122 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $950.22, for a total value 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 approximately $4,664,629.98. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, VP Paige K. Robbins sold 3,122 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $950.22, for a total value 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 approximately $4,664,629.98. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP Paige K. Robbins sold 3,813 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $968.88, for a total value of $3,694,339.44. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 4,909 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,756,231.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 9.50% of the company’s stock.

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.