W W Grainger (GWW) Raised to Buy at Robert W. Baird

W W Grainger (NYSE:GWW) was upgraded by investment analysts at Robert W. Baird from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report issued on Thursday.

A number of other research analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. Stephens reissued a “hold” rating and set a $264.00 price target on shares of W W Grainger in a research report on Thursday. UBS Group assumed coverage on shares of W W Grainger in a research report on Tuesday. They set a “sell” rating and a $215.00 price target for the company. Zacks Investment Research raised shares of W W Grainger from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, January 22nd. Credit Suisse Group reaffirmed an “underperform” rating and issued a $190.00 target price (up from $172.00) on shares of W W Grainger in a report on Tuesday, January 9th. They noted that the move was a valuation call. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sell” rating and issued a $192.00 target price on shares of W W Grainger in a report on Thursday, January 4th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. W W Grainger currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $227.33.

Shares of W W Grainger (NYSE GWW) traded down $1.18 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $285.26. 1,367,216 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,186,703. W W Grainger has a one year low of $155.00 and a one year high of $298.14. The stock has a market cap of $16,134.84, a PE ratio of 28.47, a P/E/G ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.23, a quick ratio of 1.28 and a current ratio of 2.13.

W W Grainger (NYSE:GWW) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 24th. The industrial products company reported $2.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.18 by $0.76. W W Grainger had a net margin of 5.62% and a return on equity of 35.76%. The company had revenue of $2.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.57 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.45 EPS. W W Grainger’s revenue was up 6.5% on a year-over-year basis. research analysts anticipate that W W Grainger will post 14 earnings per share for the current year.

In other news, VP Laura D. Brown sold 9,158 shares of W W Grainger stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $232.86, for a total value of $2,132,531.88. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 16,893 shares in the company, valued at $3,933,703.98. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP John L. Howard sold 21,000 shares of W W Grainger stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $220.56, for a total transaction of $4,631,760.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 9.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. grew its stake in shares of W W Grainger by 1.0% in the second quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. now owns 606 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $109,000 after acquiring an additional 6 shares during the period. Profund Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of W W Grainger by 1.2% in the second quarter. Profund Advisors LLC now owns 1,394 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $252,000 after acquiring an additional 17 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial For Lutherans grew its stake in shares of W W Grainger by 1.5% in the second quarter. Thrivent Financial For Lutherans now owns 2,050 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $370,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake in shares of W W Grainger by 0.3% in the second quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 21,106 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $3,810,000 after acquiring an additional 73 shares during the period. Finally, Sentry Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of W W Grainger by 3.3% in the second quarter. Sentry Investment Management LLC now owns 3,280 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $592,000 after acquiring an additional 104 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.00% of the company’s stock.

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About W W Grainger

W.W. Grainger, Inc (Grainger) is a distributor of maintenance, repair and operating (MRO) supplies and other related products and services. The Company offers its products and services to businesses and institutions in the United States and Canada, with presence also in Europe, Asia and Latin America.

Analyst Recommendations for W W Grainger (NYSE:GWW)