Strengthening Families & Communities LLC Increases Stake in W.W. Grainger, Inc. $GWW

Strengthening Families & Communities LLC lifted its stake in shares of W.W. Grainger, Inc. (NYSE:GWW) by 4,041.5% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,698 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 1,657 shares during the quarter. Strengthening Families & Communities LLC’s holdings in W.W. Grainger were worth $1,626,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in W.W. Grainger by 4.4% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,627,273 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $5,853,714,000 after acquiring an additional 238,895 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of W.W. Grainger by 0.4% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,982,274 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,062,041,000 after purchasing an additional 8,735 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in W.W. Grainger by 1.9% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,260,610 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,306,289,000 after buying an additional 23,418 shares during the last quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC acquired a new stake in W.W. Grainger in the third quarter valued at $721,202,000. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in W.W. Grainger during the 2nd quarter worth about $536,916,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.70% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other W.W. Grainger news, CEO Donald G. Macpherson sold 14,523 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $972.81, for a total transaction of $14,128,119.63. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 107,862 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $104,929,232.22. This represents a 11.87% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Krantz Nancy L. Berardinelli sold 195 shares of W.W. Grainger stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,023.93, for a total value of $199,666.35. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president owned 3,174 shares in the company, valued at $3,249,953.82. This trade represents a 5.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 26,881 shares of company stock worth $26,157,155 in the last 90 days. 6.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on W.W. Grainger from $1,045.00 to $1,100.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 16th. Barclays increased their price target on shares of W.W. Grainger from $963.00 to $975.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 7th. Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on shares of W.W. Grainger in a research report on Wednesday, November 12th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $975.00 price objective for the company. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of W.W. Grainger in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price target on shares of W.W. Grainger from $1,006.00 to $1,050.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 3rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $1,045.75.

W.W. Grainger Stock Performance

Shares of W.W. Grainger stock opened at $1,097.17 on Tuesday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $1,019.94 and its 200-day simple moving average is $992.42. W.W. Grainger, Inc. has a 12 month low of $893.99 and a 12 month high of $1,103.69. The stock has a market capitalization of $52.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.77, a PEG ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 2.72 and a quick ratio of 1.59.

W.W. Grainger (NYSE:GWW) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 31st. The industrial products company reported $10.21 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $9.95 by $0.26. The firm had revenue of $4.66 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.64 billion. W.W. Grainger had a net margin of 9.75% and a return on equity of 49.40%. W.W. Grainger’s quarterly revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $9.87 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that W.W. Grainger, Inc. will post 40.3 earnings per share for the current year.

W.W. Grainger Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, March 1st. Investors of record on Monday, February 9th will be issued a dividend of $2.26 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 9th. This represents a $9.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. W.W. Grainger’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 25.35%.

W.W. Grainger Company Profile

W.W. Grainger, Inc (NYSE: GWW) is an industrial supply distributor founded in 1927 and headquartered in Lake Forest, Illinois. The company supplies maintenance, repair and operations (MRO) products and services to businesses, institutions and government customers. Over its long history Grainger has developed a broad product assortment and a national distribution network that supports operations across a range of end markets, including manufacturing, healthcare, hospitality, transportation and public sector organizations.

Grainger’s product portfolio spans core categories such as electrical and lighting, safety and personal protective equipment, material handling, motors and power transmission, plumbing and HVAC, fasteners and adhesives, hand and power tools, and janitorial and facility supplies.