Candriam S.C.A. Buys 515 Shares of W.W. Grainger, Inc. $GWW

Candriam S.C.A. raised its stake in W.W. Grainger, Inc. (NYSE:GWW) by 8.4% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,643 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 515 shares during the period. Candriam S.C.A.’s holdings in W.W. Grainger were worth $7,246,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Brighton Jones LLC increased its position in W.W. Grainger by 46.8% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 320 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $338,000 after purchasing an additional 102 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC raised its holdings in W.W. Grainger by 18.0% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 2,851 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,816,000 after purchasing an additional 435 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its position in shares of W.W. Grainger by 169.6% in the 2nd quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 3,826 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $3,980,000 after purchasing an additional 2,407 shares during the period. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL acquired a new position in shares of W.W. Grainger in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $208,000. Finally, Sei Investments Co. boosted its stake in shares of W.W. Grainger by 35.2% in the 2nd quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 41,388 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $43,051,000 after purchasing an additional 10,784 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.70% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on GWW shares. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of W.W. Grainger from $1,171.00 to $1,166.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, June 23rd. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price target on W.W. Grainger from $1,052.00 to $1,125.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Wall Street Zen raised W.W. Grainger from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 23rd. Weiss Ratings downgraded W.W. Grainger from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 2nd. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded W.W. Grainger from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, W.W. Grainger presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $1,216.44.

W.W. Grainger Stock Up 0.2%

Shares of NYSE GWW opened at $1,379.19 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $65.11 billion, a PE ratio of 37.09, a P/E/G ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 1.03. W.W. Grainger, Inc. has a 12-month low of $906.52 and a 12-month high of $1,390.96. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $1,292.40 and its 200 day simple moving average is $1,167.16. The company has a quick ratio of 1.60, a current ratio of 2.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55.

W.W. Grainger (NYSE:GWW) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The industrial products company reported $11.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $10.21 by $1.44. W.W. Grainger had a net margin of 9.70% and a return on equity of 47.87%. The firm had revenue of $4.74 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.58 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $9.86 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 10.1% compared to the same quarter last year. W.W. Grainger has set its FY 2026 guidance at 44.250-46.250 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that W.W. Grainger, Inc. will post 45.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W.W. Grainger Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 1st. Investors of record on Monday, May 11th were paid a dividend of $2.49 per share. This is an increase from W.W. Grainger’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.26. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 11th. This represents a $9.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. W.W. Grainger’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 26.79%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other W.W. Grainger news, VP Laurie R. Thomson sold 313 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,231.69, for a total value of $385,518.97. Following the transaction, the vice president owned 399 shares in the company, valued at approximately $491,444.31. This represents a 43.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP Paige K. Robbins sold 1,457 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,232.29, for a total value of $1,795,446.53. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president directly owned 2,232 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,750,471.28. This trade represents a 39.50% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders have sold 2,624 shares of company stock valued at $3,232,291. 6.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About W.W. Grainger

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.